At the end of every episode of his new show, chef Jeff Henderson and his students produce an excellent meal. But that’s not the ultimate goal.
The Chef Jeff Project (Sundays beginning Oct. 12 on Food Network) seeks to take troubled young people and use the skills needed to master food preparation to lead them down a better path. It’s an approach that sure worked for Henderson, who served nearly 10 years in prison for drug trafficking before finding redemption in the culinary arts. He has since worked his way up to prominence, having served as executive chef at the Café Bellagio in Las Vegas, and now runs his own L.A.-based-catering business. He is a motivational speaker and author of The New York Times best-selling autobiography Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, From Cocaine to Foie Gras.
Oprah Winfrey took an interest in his story and brought him on her show to share with the world. Among the viewers who found inspiration was movie megastar Will Smith, who has optioned the film rights.
Henderson took some time to talk with me about his teaching methods, and how food preparation can set the course for a better life.
How did you find the people who would be your students?
Chef Jeff: We hired a casting agency out in L.A., reached out to youth social services, youth organizations. [The participants] filled out an application, a series of Q&A, met with psychologist. One thing that I opted out in doing was meeting the kids or knowing anything about them until the show. I didn’t want to start generating thoughts and opinions and feelings for these young people before the show started. I wanted to be unbiased. I did get to view a tape of the ones that were chosen toward the end. … I know they were looking for kids who had different social issues, socially challenged kids. Kids on drugs, kids who had been to prison, been in gangs. Most of these kids come from generational poverty, where education wasn’t valued. They had no fathers in the home. There actually was two kids who came from sort of privileged backgrounds, but [have] been involved with drugs — heroin and different things like that. Rebelling against their family, robbing their parents, stuff like that. One young girl had four kids by the time she was 22. But all these kids had one thing in common, they all love to cook. They love food and had a desire to work in the food and hospitality industry.
How do you use food preparation to help them change their lives?
Food is the base of change. When I talk about presentation of food, I talk about self-presentation — the walk, the talk, the lingo, how you carry yourself, how you present yourself, you know, for a job, and to the public, and to people who are giving you opportunities. When we talk about the ingredients of a dish, the recipe, the formula, I draw a parallel to the recipes and the strategies and the formula for changing your life. I talk a lot about how I changed my life. I had to find my purpose, so it’s a very purpose-driven show. We talk about dreams, about finding your purpose before you can have a dream, and I try to help develop that. There’s a lot of praise in the show, and reinforcement. I give a lot of recognition to the young people, because a lot of them have never been recognized for anything positive in their life. And for the first time, they saw the smiles and the happy faces on the guests after they had eaten their food. … Food is the base of the show, but I think the overall mission is to inspire these young people that they can change and become what they want to become in life, whether it is a chef or a cook. Some of them may never be that, but I think that with the overall experience, they were able to see the possibilities.
Did they know about your story — having gone to prison as a drug dealer before finding success as a chef?
They did know about me. My story is pretty saturated in the inner city. They use my book Cooked a lot to talk about a guy who walked in the shoes that these young kids are in and how he was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was a tough love show, too. These young people, they really get the message through tough love. I was the preacher, I was the teacher, the father, the chef, I was the police, I had multiple hats.
Did it go like you planned?
I was able to stick to the plan. I didn’t really prepare anything. I didn’t have menus prepared, I didn’t have any talking points, any real strategy. My first thing was to meet the crew, analyze them and see what they were working with from a food perspective. And once the kids cooked for me, and I watched them in the kitchen, I was able then to gauge to see what I was up against, how they interact with each other. The kind of teaching I do — I call it reality-based education — I deal with each individual on an individual basis. I had no in-depth clue on to what I was really dealing with with these young people. Over the course of 28 days, I learned a lot. It was very emotional. What I first saw on the casting tape of the first six crew members was nothing like what I experienced with them. So everything was pretty much on the fly. I dealt with each situation as I was faced with it, whether it was a race issue, or fighting, kids not getting along, uncommunicative — I even had to go into some of their homes and leave the kitchen to go find them because they didn’t show up to work.
Did they all take to your teachings?
I think all of them were inspired. The test of time will tell. There is no magic wand to change. There’s no a-ha moment when a person changes his life. I believe that change happens over a period of time through trial and error, through different challenges one’s faced with, circumstances and experiences. I think that a couple of them may have to go further down a downward spiral until the message actually hits them. When you come from the ‘hood, you have a delayed effect on change. You know, it’s like, my whole life they used to call me Hardhead on the streets and everyone used to tell me what was going to happen, and all these different things, and to straighten out my life, but I didn’t get it until I went to prison. I just had to go. Then when I got locked up, it was like, OK, all the inspiration, all the tough love that I got over the years came back and I absorbed it and took it in and that was the beginning of my transition into becoming who I am today. So I think the show really impacted them, the message was strong. I’m still in contact with them today, I’m still dealing with some things with them. I think America and the people who watch Food Network will see the impact and the positive in my message.
Was this an idea brought to you by Food Network, or did you pitch it to them?
My idea. I wrote the show, I envisioned it. How this show is is what I’ve been doing with my catering company, Posh Urban Cuisine, the past seven or eight years. Hiring young kids from the street to work these parties with me. I talk to them, I pay them the wages and whatnot. After I went on Oprah, and my book did very well, I started to do a lot more public speaking, and eventually I left the Bellagio. I got the movie deal with Will Smith, then the Food Network deal came. It was pretty much like, “We want to do something with you, what do you have in mind?” I said, “Well, I really don’t want to do a regular cooking show at this point, you know, because there’s so many chefs on TV cooking. Traveling chefs. I want to do a show that impacts the lives of people.” I came up with the concept of The Chef Jeff Project, and I said let’s do a catering company where I change lives through food. And they loved it. We hammered a script out for the show over three-to-four month period. They were nervous. Here I am, an ex-con, been to prison, they didn’t know what to expect. And we’re taking six young people who have come from crazy lives as well, and Food Network is a pretty straightforward, conservative network. So it was a big risk. I had meeting after meeting trying to convince them that I think the show will be very powerful, and they bought into it. The excitement and the buzz around it is huge. So I think that a lot of people can gain a lot from it. We do beautiful food, and great food. It’s very food-driven, but it’s also very life-changing driven as well.
How is the movie deal coming?
The movie deal is coming along well. The whole script is done. … Sometime this summer it’s going to get the green or the red light. I think it’s going to get the green one, because they moved right on it. As soon as Oprah aired, two hours later Will Smith, Sony Pictures, and Steve Tisch called and they said they made a pre-emptive offer. They brought me to Brooklyn where Will was on a set filming I Am Legend and I met with him for like five hours, and talked about the story. And they got on it right away. They hired a writer before the deal was even done.
