Local teen hopes smart food choices bring TV stardom

YARMOUTHPORT - Shawn DeMartino is in the family kitchen making fish tacos for lunch. He's taking grilled tilapia (the market was out of mahi mahi), and tucking it inside soft corn tortillas with avocado salsa and shredded cabbage. They're neatly made, and both sweet and spicy. At 15, Shawn is skinny and shy, Zac Efron dreamy in Birkenstock clogs with feathery brown hair plastered to his forehead like a wool ski hat.

Once pudgy, Shawn cooks for himself, gleaning tips from his mom, poring over cookbooks, and spending hours and hours watching Rachael Ray and Bobby Flay on the Food Network, learning to julienne, grill, and flip food in a pan. Now he wants his own show. "Cook It Smart" is the name he and his father have thought up. The motto is "One kid fighting child obesity one meal at a time."

Stage dad George DeMartino is a stand-up comic with olive skin, slicked-back black hair, and a surprisingly charming fire hose of a personality. "I never thought we would see Shawn in showbiz," says George. They talk shop - though Shawn doesn't do much of the talking - and are both managed by Ben Hill, a Los Angeles-based former executive at HBO and former co-manager of comedian Howie Mandel.

Hill has high hopes for Shawn and "Cook It Smart." "I think we have a chance with this show," he says. "But the first thing we need to do is make a demo reel and put together a first-class press kit - a show and tell." With that, Hill will court production companies, syndication companies, and public television. "To be someplace like the Food Network is our goal, but we don't mind starting somewhere small," says the manager.

To ward off parents and managers who might think their child is the next Jamie Oliver, the Food Network will not accept tapes from gung-ho relatives and representatives. Allison Page, vice president for programming, explained it like this in an e-mail: "Food Network only takes pitches from production companies, so we do not entertain calls from parents or anyone without representation. When it comes to our shows, we aim to reach the widest possible audience, so we try to create shows that will encourage viewers of all ages to tune in. While up to this point we haven't had a young adult as a host, we are not opposed to the idea."

So if Shawn's tape excites someone, he would be the first teenager on the network's roster.

The idea began when Shawn was in elementary school and started gaining weight from his family's homemade meals. His mom, Betsy, cooked chicken pot pies, spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna - wholesome food that can also bulk you up. "Too many calories and too much starch," says Shawn. Brother Patrick, now 19, stayed slim and chiseled while Shawn blew up. In photos, however, in spite of how Shawn describes himself, he doesn't look particularly heavy, but rather like he still has some baby fat.

Now an honors student at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, Shawn began his own routine in the kitchen. These days he's practicing for his show by cooking for the whole family. For breakfast he makes oatmeal, or egg-white omelets. "Mind blowing egg-white omelets, oh my God," says his father. Other frequent family requests are grilled pizzas, mayo-less Caesar salads, and minestrone soup. Patrick, a pre-med sophomore at Northeastern, says that he and his girlfriend come home to eat Shawn's food. His mother, a teacher and part-time waitress, says that she is glad not to cook. "Shawn's better in the kitchen than I ever was."

Shawn, usually reserved, can get pretty charged up when he talks about the show. "I couldn't do what I do now if I was overweight," he says. "Before I slimmed down I was always the last to be picked for teams. I passed out during chorus practice under the hot lights and collapsed during the field day mile run. With this show I could be, like, the first kid to fight childhood obesity. I've dealt with it myself, and I have ideas about how to solve the problem." He also started riding and competes as a show jumper on a Dutch Warmblood horse named Belgian Waffle.

The DeMartinos live in a 200-year-old converted barn with manicured gardens and a hot tub on the back porch. When he's not in California shopping ideas for television sitcoms and honing his stand-up routine, George DeMartino spends a lot of time with Shawn. They pal around, walking across the street for tempura and maki rolls at Inaho Restaurant or down the dirt road with a cooler to sit in the sun at Gray's Beach. George drives Shawn to and from the riding barn in a yellow Beetle convertible. Evenings they're in the kitchen working on "Cook It Smart." George settles into his chair in front of the gas fireplace, pours himself a glass of chardonnay, and coaches Shawn. Sometimes George sets up the video camera and they film a segment or two. "You got to be able to pop when they put the cameras on," says George. "Shawn can really pop."

George has a spiel about the show. "I grew up in the Bronx," he says. "Like most Americans we solved all of our problems with food. You break up with your girlfriend - have a piece of cake and everything is fine. But that's why almost 20 percent of kids ages 6 to 19 are obese and at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. I think Shawn can really make a difference by sharing his story and his knowledge of healthy cooking with other kids."

Before going into comedy, George sold cars - Pontiac, Isuzu, and GMC. He's also been in the food business. He and Betsy ran Cape Cod Cranberry Cookies, baked on the Cape, studded with cranberries and distributed in supermarkets all over the country. They closed the business in 1999. "We couldn't quite break through to the big time," he says.

Back in the kitchen, Shawn seasons his fish tacos with salt and pepper and plates them to bring outside to the back patio. George raves about the food.

While Shawn puts together a parfait for dessert - angel food cake from a mix, instant fat-free and sugar-free vanilla pudding, Cool Whip Lite, strawberries, and blueberries - George pulls out old family photos of Shawn in his pudgier days. The boy is standing in front of science projects, holding up a freshly caught snapper in the Bahamas, riding a water slide. "Look at all those rolls," says the father. "That was a four roll belly and look at you now."

Shawn blushes.