Chef Anette Grecchi Gray is Foodservice Director for Central Market, a leading food market and industry innovator located in Texas. Chef Anette is passionate about grains, and is introducing more whole grains to the menu. Central Market offers customers more healthy options to encourage better food choices, a trend that is steadily gaining momentum as consumers become more aware of what they are eating. Chef Anette explains how she showcases her healthy menus as bold, flavorful and exciting using ingredients like U.S.-grown rice, and how Central Market's culture adds enthusiasm to the shopping experience. Try Chef Anette's recipe for Vegetarian Paella.

I oversee the 24-hour Bakery and Pastry Shop, a 700 plus cheese department, a deli offering everything from Black Forest Ham to Jamon Iberico, and the Chef's Case, featuring more than 80 offerings of ready-to-eat foods. Central Market has a huge grab-and-go wall, custom salad and sandwich bars, a busy catering department, a full-service coffee bar, a fresh squeezed Juice area, and a "Kit Kitchen," with cut vegetables and cooking kits ready for our customers to take home and cook a meal quickly.

Coming from a restaurant background, what are key differences and opportunities you see in the grocery industry?

The switch from the hotel-restaurant arena was interesting. I think I was well-equipped, bringing a lot of experiences in logistics, quality control, food trends, successful team building and volume food preparation. I quickly noticed that there are enormous opportunities to showcase new and trendy food items to our customers. In a grocery store we have the chance to connect with thousands of customers each day while in a restaurant, we may be able to affect a couple hundred.

The foodservice area in a grocery store is a very powerful place and offers a great chance to take risks and offer new and interesting food items. We receive immediate feedback, if our customers like it, we will build on it. If not, we can remove it very quickly.

What is Central Market's mission and how does their culture help customers experience a love and appreciation for food?

At Central Market we "Celebrate Food and Celebrate Life" every day. We are well known for food demos and having tastings throughout the store to sample new items in our portfolio. Once we get new items into a customer's mouth, there's a great chance they will buy it and serve it to their family. To celebrate food every day allows us to try new things often. We have a captive audience with our regular customers and they are always interested in "what's new and interesting" in our store. At Central Market, we are very fortunate to have a foodie crowd that's always on a quest to know more about food.

As an advocate for wholesome ingredients, especially whole grains, how do you incorporate innovative, new dishes and encourage customers to choose "better-for-you" foods?

Central Market has a unique way of introducing new and exciting food items into our menu. Of course we have our customer favorites available at all time, but we also have room to fit new items into our "Chef Corner" area, like new twists on whole grains and rice. We also provide information on how the dishes and ingredients are prepared, and how our customers can build a meal around buying more wholesome sides.

You said you serve brown rice on the menu every day. What role does rice play on your menu and when developing recipes that appeal to Central Market's customers?

At the Houston Central Market, we have a very diverse customer base. Rice plays a big role for us at the store to appeal to folks from all around the world. We feature several rice dishes on a regular basis, white, brown, Jasmine, Basmati, and more. We create Thai, Indian and other Asian rice dishes, which is great for our customers, and also for our chefs. They get to play with rice and come up with "Chef Special" sides every day.

What are some of the most popular rice recipes at Central Market?

Currently, we feature Risotto Cakes, Lemon Basmati Rice, Fried Rice and Brown Rice with Herbs on our rotation menu. We are working on some more intricate dishes at the moment and looking at introducing more whole grain rice dishes, as a salad or side. I am also interested in featuring rice in eclectic main dishes, such as Paella, Stir Frys, and Rice Bowls made with brown rice. Once restaurants have them on the menu, customers look for them in the grocery stores as well. Our goal is to be ready with a solid offering, that is innovative, tasty and yes, good for you.

See Chef Anette's recipe for Vegetarian Paella with Brown Rice.

Grains have been popular side dishes for years. Do you find they now have a place as the main ingredient/center of plate?

As a chef, I always had the plant-protein packed grains in mind to take center stage on the plate. That mission is still alive in my daily thinking on how to create a "good for you" dish. Today's way of life offers ample room to set grains and rice as the main ingredient on a plate, and adding a fish or meat protein as a "garnish." For example, rice in particular, can easily be the center of an Italian, Asian, or Latin dish by using it with different herbs, spices and vegetables.

How has your experience in Switzerland, Australia, Bangkok and Singapore influenced your approach to creating flavorful wholesome dishes?

Growing up in Switzerland certainly has put its mark on how I think, use, love and feel about whole grains and rice. Different types of rice and grains were served at every meal when I was a child; that piqued my interest and I have educated myself about their nutritional value. I also love the versatility of rice and grains, the ways of using different cooking techniques to change the dimension of a dish, or switching out spices and herbs to create a unique flavor profile or to build on the depth of flavor. As a lover of rice, I see so many opportunities to feature interesting and creative dishes.

What advice or techniques do you have for other chefs that want to incorporate more whole grains on their menus?

I always think of taking a risk — trying new things is a creative way to learn and to teach. I believe that all grains including rice add color to food arrays and plates, and they are a "good for you" food. Their versatility is a huge plus for me — it allows me to incorporate them into a wide range of dishes from ethnic cuisine, to wholesome, to creative, to comfort.

Also in this recovering recession, it's wise to think of rice options as an offering to our customers. Rice is a cost-effective ingredient in a meal that can feed a family for a few dollars. The versatility of rice is endless. Even eating rice three times a day is never boring.