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Letter to the editor

Cooking with a personal touch

By LARITA JACOBS, Times Correspondent
Published January 24, 2008

Kent Casey demonstrates how to prepare a healthy meal while doing a promotion for Royal Prestige cookware Friday.
	[Edmund D. Fountain | Times]

Kent Casey has always been fascinated by new combinations of taste, texture and color. As a teenager, he started creating meals with unexpected ingredient combinations. Today, Casey, 38, is a certified chef with a passion for creating food that is both delicious and healthy. Casey, a.k.a. the Personal Chef, will be featured at Kids Expo for Families at the Largo Library on Feb. 2, where he will give presentations on healthy eating for kids.

1. What is a personal chef and why did you want to become one? I love the challenge of creating delicious new things. I take what most people wouldn't commonly put together and make it my own. I also have a passion for service. Being a personal chef allows me to put that together. I go into people's homes and prepare a great meal. The greatest compliment is when people enjoy the taste. It's also a big compliment when they say they can't even tell I was there. I bring my own cookware, I bring the groceries and I clean up the entire kitchen. I give full service.

2. What's the secret to getting kids to eat healthier? The hard part is getting kids to try new things. Kids are much more likely to try something when they helped to create it. I've had parents say, 'I don't know what you did to my kids but they're requesting fruits and vegetables.' That's very rewarding.

3. Why do chefs wear those funny hats?I hear it was because splattered grease stuck to ceilings and then dripped on the chef's head. Since I don't use a lot of grease I only wear the hat upon request.

4. What sort of nutritional advice do you give your clients? Don't feel you have to change eating habits all at once. When you start slowly with change, it doesn't feel so overwhelming. Add a new fruit or an extra vegetable this week. Keep a bowl of fruit on the table for easy access. Be willing to try things more than once. Try things prepared different ways. Experiment with color, texture and seasoning. The goal is to look back in six months and see real change.

5. What are your hopes and dreams as the Personal Chef? I trained at Kendall College's School of Culinary Arts in Chicago. Nutrition was a big part of the education. People think that in order to eat healthy it's not going to taste good and it is going to be expensive. I hope to help change that opinion. I would love to have a cooking show that focused on children's health and making food fun. If I can help even 10 kids change their eating habits I can feel I've done something good.

If you go

Kid's Expo

Largo Library

120 Central Park Drive

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 2

For information, call (727) 587-6715, ext. 2503, or visit www.largo.com.

[Last modified January 23, 2008, 22:49:57]