Stressing fare and care for diabetics

Jasper White was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1999.

Being diagnosed with diabetes does not mean giving up good food.

On Tuesday, some of Boston's best chefs will spend the evening high above the city at 60 State St., cooking for A Spoonful of Ginger, a benefit for the Joslin Diabetes Center's Asian American Diabetes Initiative. The event was founded four years ago by chef and restaurateur Jasper White, owner of the Summer Shack restaurants, and a diabetic himself. This year White will be honored for his work with the organization.

White was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1999. "I was sick and overweight, and I had to change my lifestyle," says the chef. "I started eating right and lifting weights. I lost 75 pounds and got healthy, and now I'm in remission. I can't say I'm cured, there is no cure, but I feel great and don't need any medication." White says that he wouldn't be alive today without the care he received at Joslin, particularly from doctors George L. King and William Hsu. "I would do anything to help them further their work," he says.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body metabolizes glucose. If left untreated it can lead to blindness, heart and blood vessel disease, nerve damage, and kidney damage. "Diabetes patients worry about heart attacks but are most afraid of going blind or needing an amputation," says Hsu. For various reasons, people of certain races, including Asian-Americans, are more likely to develop the disorder. Joslin's diabetes initiative conducts research studies, works to increase awareness, and implements treatment programs for Asian-Americans. "It has to do with the Western diet and cultural barriers and everything else," says White. "People need to know about this disease."

This year cooks from about 20 restaurants will serve up their best light fare. "You've never seen so much good healthy food in your life," says White.

Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery and Cafe and Myers+Chang will make a caramelized upside-down apple cake, Ting Yen of Oishii will prepare tuna and mango with baby ginger on crispy seaweed squares, and Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger will contribute a chipotle sweet-potato soup with red-pepper bacon salsa. White is leaving his chowder and fried onion rings back at the Summer Shack to prepare a five-spice grilled lamb. At home he likes to wrap the lamb in rich scallion pancakes, but for the event, he's making asparagus salad. " It's lighter," he says, "but still good."

Tickets for A Spoonful of Ginger on April 1 are $200; call 617-732-2400 or go to joslin.org.