Community Corner

Lyfe Kitchen Chef Art Smith Encourages a New Lifestyle

Written by Claudia Cruz

Chef Art Smith sipped cucumber mint water and conversed with fans as he signed copies of his new book at Lyfe Kitchen in Palo Alto on Sunday.

Oprah Winfrey's former personal chef, a Top Chef Master, a James Beard winner for his Back to the Table cookbook and owner of the Lyfe Kitchen restaurants—they've recently open one in Culver City and plan to expand in Chicago and Washington D.C.—took extra care with each dedication because "anybody can autograph" he said to make fans feel special.

His fourth book, Healthy Comfort showcases Smith's continued evolution and relationship with food. The chef, who lost both his grandfather and father to diabetes and who also battles type two diabetes, has shed 120 pounds from his maximum weight of 325 in the last several years.

Smith's book, "is not a diet book," he writes in the introduction, but it's about a lifestyle change that involves "reminders of how to eat right, healthfully and sensibly, day in and day out." But because it's comfort food, the flavor's still there, he emphasizes. After each recipe he included the count per serving for calories, fats, saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, sugar, fiber, protein and calcium.

"I'm happy that I don't have to take medication," he said in regards to the current status of his diabetes as it relates to his healthy lifestyle.

Those are some of the same recipes at Lyfe Kitchen located at 167 Hamilton Ave., shared manager David Sass, who explained that Smith continues to behind so many recipes at the restaurants. 

Just like the "unfried" chicken on the menu at Lyfe. In his cookbook, Smith shared that fried chicken "is a dish I avoid these days" even though it was part of his southern Jasper, FL upbringing. Now, however, instead of frying Smith bakes the chicken. 

And now that Smith has changed how he consumes food, he's begun to contemplate where the food he eats comes from too.

Right before he arrived at Lyfe on Sunday, Smith had joined other celebrity chefs at the Monterey Aquarium for Cooking for Solutions. The annual fundraiser aims to find ways to save the oceans and its creatures by encouraging sustainable seafood.

"To be a chef in the times that we live, you have to learn how to cook but also be an activist," Smith said all revved up about the event. He noted how underutilized the catfish is as a food item compared to other seafood. He includes a recipe for "Cornmeal-Crusted catfish with Green Tomatoes and Vidalia Onions" in the cookbook. "We need to make people aware of what to eat and why."

"That's why Lyfe is part of the answer," he said about how the restaurant likes to get its food from local sources. 

But the bigger picture for Smith is educating the next generation of healthy eaters by teaching them how to cook. In 2003, even before Smith had opened any of his restaurants he and Jesus Salguiero founded Common Threads

With sites at schools in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Miami and East Palo Alto, kids learn to cook, garden and eat healthy. Smith and partners hope to get one million children cooking by 2017. In 2012, they had 33,000 kids participate. The East Palo Alto program launched on February 1 at Eastside College Prep School.

"It teaches hem how to eat healthier and how to spend their money wiser," Smith said. "The kids are now going home and teaching it to their parents."    

Smith's food evolution has taken him back to where he started. 



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