Oprah's chef brings charm to the table

Art Smith is Oprah Winfrey's personal chef, but he is not exactly a television celebrity chef. Smith occasionally appears alongside ``Ms. Winfrey," as he calls her, on the Oprah Winfrey Show and that -- with his rotating stint as guest judge of the Food Network's ``Iron Chef America" -- has been enough to raise his status from kitchen-bound cook to household name. On a recent Saturday morning, he was cooking solo for a large group of women.

Smith, 46, was part of the O You! event at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, which brought Oprah readers from around the country to attend lifestyle seminars taught by Winfrey's experts, one of whom was Smith, who demonstrated sweet potato-pecan waffles from his book ``Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family."

The waffle demonstration took place in the center of a cavernous room, surrounded by seminar rooms fashioned from curtained barriers. All around the chef was an audience of women -- he was the only man at his cooking stage -- all old enough to be mothers, some, grandmothers, answering questions the chef posed as he discussed the ins and outs of waffle making.

``Don't be saying I put a stick of butter in there," teases Smith, ``I put a one-quarter of a stick." The topic returns later and he states unequivocally ``a little butter never hurt a little bit of anybody." And this includes the cook himself, whose denim chef jacket is not exactly loose fitting.

The chef is all Southern charm and cozy friendly to his audience, saying things like, ``Nothing says love like a little waffle in the morning." When he cooks with Oprah on TV, it's a lot of laughs, and you might see a dozen waiters emerging from back stage with hundreds of tastes for everyone in the audience. Smith has been cooking for the talk-show host for 10 years. He has cooked for other celebrities and well-known figures, including former Senator Bob Graham, when he was governor of Florida.

On this day, Smith is talking about growing up in Jasper, Fla., ``where everyone has two names," his menagerie of dogs, cats, and fish at home in Chicago, and his life cooking for Winfrey. His famous boss, he says, who struggles with her weight -- as all Oprah fans know -- ``loves salads and she loves fish," which he grills.

Smith drops names as easily and frequently as he drops batter on the hot waffle iron. ``This recipe is `easy peasy' as my friend [British TV chef] Jamie Oliver would say." By virtue of his job, he has met many of the top names in the food industry.

Alongside the waffles, he recommends fried chicken, of course. He calls his combination ``the bee's knees." The audience gets a taste of the waffles as the demonstration winds down, and after watching his next demo on peanut brittle (performed somewhat incredibly on a hot plate), the women disperse at the announcement to proceed to their next scheduled classes, whether on the topic of health, style, home, or life goals.

The exuberant chef says he loves to cook and teach others, but he doesn't want fans to learn everything from him. He would rather see them go to ``loved family members." Still, he feels strongly that food can be an important element in the lives of the younger generation, so he co-founded Common Threads, a Chicago-area nonprofit organization that uses food and other art forms to encourage children to find similarities in their differences.

What he really wants, he says, is for families to sit down for supper. ``Most people don't get along," he says, `` 'cus they don't spend enough time at the table together." To make a difference in your own family, urges Smith, begin with the small things: ``Let's give Aunt Jemima the day off and you make the waffles."