PORT ANGELES — He was a new, more enlightened Galloping Gourmet.
With energetic hands and a gleeful smile, Graham Kerr mixed his old love for cooking with his new passion — nutrition — for a near-overflow crowd at The Gateway transit center Saturday.
About 300 people joined in with the former television chef as he encouraged them to repeat his new mottoes — eat more plants, grow more food, gather and share, and delight and do less harm — at the Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival.
Both represent the 77-year-old chef’s new philosophy when it comes to cooking, aimed at producing delicious but healthy food.
Kerr, known more for his use of butter during his television days, explained that he decided to cause less harm with his cooking after his wife suffered a heart attack in 1986.
Avid gardener
“I also want to do less harm to the soils, less harm to the water and less harm to the air that we breathe,” he said. “If we do that, we are going to have the greatest food in the world, and we ourselves are going to get more healthier.”
Now an avid gardener, Kerr demonstrated how parsnip can be used to make a delicious — and fat-free — cream for an omelette.
Blended with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, he said the parsnip creates a “smooth, creamy, full-mouth feeling” that appeared to delight members of the crowd who tasted it.
“I loved it. I wish he was on TV again,” said Jennifer Lone of Port Angeles.
“He was just as wonderful as he was [on television]. He just makes healthier food.”
Sharon Lee of Sequim said she used to watch him all the time and recalled his love of butter.
But she said she plans to learn a few of his new cooking tips, including adding an egg yolk to Egg Beaters to add flavor while reducing cholesterol.
“I don’t use Egg Beaters,” she said, “but when he put an egg in it, that would make it more palatable.”
Now a resident of Mount Vernon, Kerr said the North Olympic Peninsula has the right ingredients — great climate, produce and seafood — for being the next big thing in tourism and food.
“And I know this is going to become famous,” he said. “It’s going to become one of the great destinations in the world.”
Less TV, more activities
He ended his cooking demonstration by urging the crowd to spend less time in front of the TV and more time cooking, gardening and spending time at the table with family and neighbors before boisterously leading the audience in song:
“Off we grow again, happy as can be, all good friends and jolly-good company. Never mind the weather, never mind the rain. As along as we’re together, off we grow again!”
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
