Jeff Henderson Bio: Photo Credits The Food Network
This post was inspired because over the last 4 years I have been so deeply involved in business and politics that I have not had the time to make many home cooked meals. This has been tough because I always wanted to be a chef when I was younger and it is a huge lifestyle uplifter. I can remember back in university I would have ESPN and the Food Network on constantly, however recently that has been replaced with pure CNBC, and BNN. I remember on occasion hosting big pancake breakfasts and cooking massive dinners enough to feed 10-12 of my football teammates in my basement apartment before entering the working real world.
Well after a few years of retirement from the kitchen I am finally getting back into this long lost hobby and life supporting skill. I was inspired by Robin Burns, a family friend who makes the most incredible Guacamole Recipe you can believe. You can also visit her website at www.thehungrybirdy.com trust me you will not be disappointed.
However back to cooking…. The feeling of cutting fresh vegetables seasoning the food and taking the time to prepare a meal is incredible. It makes you feel a lot better about what you are eating I call home cooked meals “food made with love”. Fast food is great for a lot of people but for me it is not made with enough love. It is always the same, always exactly the same, never is it different, McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, it is all the same all the time. No personality, marketing, business, a transaction.. 100% Pure Canadian Beef….. ? Ok…. I guess. My point is this, cooking has always been very therapeutic for me. I was raised in the kitchen watching my grandmother and mother prepare meals
. I would watch the seasonings they used and how they cooked and took their time. I observed and watched them in there mastery as they prepared meals that tasted fit for royalty it was so good.
It feels great to once again be cooking and it is still feels just as therapeutic. It is a small amount of time allowing me to set aside the constant challenge of being in the business and political world. Cooking can change lives for the better, the feeling of accomplishment and skill is amazing. Young people in our society need something positive to look up to, knowing that you can make more with your life and succeed in what you put your mind to. You can be in the NBA or NFL but you can also be an All Star in the culinary field. It confirmed my belief and thoughts that cooking can change your life for the better. Instead of giving kids a fast food packaged and manufactured eating lifestyle. Learning how to cook can motivate today’s youth to do better with their lives. Jeff Henderson is an example of this type of person. The feelings of love and positive vibes that come from making your own meals is not a lie but is actually truth and fact. I hope you might share this story and book with someone after all it was a New York Times Bestseller!
Book Description
Jeff Henderson was just another inner-city black kid born into a world of poverty and limited
options, where crime seemed to provide the only way to get out. Raised mostly by his single mother, who struggled just to keep food on the table, Jeff dreamed big. He had to get out and he soon did by turning to what so many in his community did: dealing drugs. But Jeff was no ordinary drug dealer; by twenty-one, he was one of the top cocaine dealers in San Diego, making up to $35,000 a week. Two years later he was indicted on federal drug trafficking charges and sentenced to almost twenty years in prison. Before he knew what had hit him, he was looking at spending most of his life behind bars. The street life had been the only one he’d ever known and even incarcerated he was too hardheaded to realize that no good would come of it.
That is, until he was assigned to one of the least desirable prison jobs: washing dishes. That 
job helped turn his whole life around. It gave him access to the prison kitchen and he became fascinated watching his fellow prisoners cook for the thousands of other inmates and prison officials. Henderson learned to cook in prison. Not cocaine, but food. And his dream was born: Once outside, he would become a chef.
It was a tough, seemingly impossible journey for an ex-con. Few chefs would give him the opportunity to cook in their restaurants. And once hired, he endured racism and sabotage in the kitchen. But Henderson refused to accept rejection. Driven by a dream and an unshakable will to succeed, Chef Jeff worked hard to overcome unimaginable adversity and eventually reached the top of his profession, becoming executive chef at Café Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Alive with the energy of the streets, the sober reality of prison, and the visceral thrill of being inside the fast-paced kitchens of great restaurants, Cooked is an intense, intimate tale of crime, punishment, and redemption—a deeply poignant story of how the worst wrong can lead to the most extraordinary right.
To purchase this book you can get it by clicking this link.