The Chef Jeff Project

By JULIETTE ROSSANT It is easy to be skeptical about the Food Network's impact on its viewer's lives. After all, this is the network that loves Paula Deen and Rachael Ray. OK, there is Alton Brown and a few other shows that do have good recipes and demonstrate technique. Viewers can learn how to make a burger or add more "gaahrlic" and not overcook their peas, but it is mostly about entertainment –some good, some unwatchable. Then along comes The Chef Jeff Project, premiering on October 12 at 10pm ET/9pm C. This is a show in which Jeff Henderson, a former prison inmate turned profession chef and writer (Cooked (William Morrow 2007) and Chef Jeff Cooks (Scribners 2008)), tries to help inspire, transform, and transfer his strength to six adults who have all been facing drugs, prison and hopelessness. He brings them to train at his Posh Urban Cuisine catering company for what he calls " Culinary and Life Style Boot Camp". If they survive they get a two-year culinary scholarship. The "crew" ranges from the youngest and least wayward, Maria, 18, whose mother left when she was three, and whose father is in the military. To Shante, 24, who has been a drug dealer and already has four kids. Jeff tells them, "I am going to be your preacher, your chef, your father, because I am going to bring you information and knowledge that will help you all to get out of the situation you in." They start by making a signature dish in 45 minutes, and then they prepare for their first catering assignment. 'There are going to haters out there that's going to look at our crew from the hood and say who do these fools think they are? We're going to prove them wrong." Pep talk after pep talk and the crew takes shape, dishes get made, and catering clients applaud. There isn't any focus on the food in the first episode that Super Chef previewed, but reality TV shows are about the characters who submit themselves to the camera's analysis, not what they are technically doing under the glare. Sound a bit familiar? Jamie Oliver's 15 restaurant filmed as Jamie's Kitchen in the UK and leading to 15 restaurants around the UK and abroad did much the same thing. Taking out of luck youths from Britain's underside and helping them turn their lives around by training them careers in food service, and if they passed, giving them jobs in the restaurant 15. Kudos for borrowing a good idea. But there is a difference here. How many other chefs on television have been in prison and faced the kind of challenges that Jeff has? The show rings true – even though it uses the same style of reality TV that makes everything seem likes it happens again and again, when its only happened once. The Chef Jeff Project has the same format as, say, The Next Food Network Star or Top Chef, in which a group of people compete for a prize, each taking on a stereotypic personality, and each demonstrating ego and cut throat determination. The difference is that you end up routing for all six of the kids. And Jeff himself identifies so keenly with them - he struggles to be a good mentor, not to loose his temper, and to carefully mete out both criticism and praise. On another level, this is a step up for Food Network programming. The Chef Jeff Project is one of the few African American serious chefs on the network. He isn't cooking down home food, but sophisticated, contemporary food. He remarks how few of the crew have ever seen a Portobello mushroom – and you get the sense that this was true for Jeff himself a few years ago. In these times, it is refreshing to see an uplifting show about a chef giving back and helping others who are struggling to get out of the cycle of poverty and drugs through the heeling and uplifting power of the food service industry. Let's see more of this kind of show. Previous articles: [Food Television - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef