Cooked: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove
Product Description
By twenty-one, Jeff Henderson was making up to $35,000 a week cooking and selling crack cocaine. By twenty-four, he had been sentenced to nineteen and a half years in prison on federal drug trafficking charges. It was an all-too-familiar story for a young man raised on the streets of South Central LA. But what happened next wasn’t. Once inside prison, Jeff Henderson worked his way up from dishwasher to chief prison cook, and when he was released in 1996, he had found his passion and his dream—he would become a professional chef. Barely five years out of federal prison, he was on his way to becoming an executive chef, as well as being a sought-after public speaker on human potential and a dedicated mentor to at-risk youth. A window into the streets and the fast-paced kitchens of world-renowned restaurants, Cooked is a very human story with a powerful message of commitment, redemption, and change. … More >>
Cooked: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove
As a retired NYPD lieutenant, I’ve experienced my share of ex-cons who talk a good talk about “going straight” vs. those who actually do it. Mr. Henderson has written an inspirational and totally believable version of his life. I listened to the unabridged audio version of the book, with the autor as reader. While Mr. Henderson retains his street accent, this book could have been read by a polished reader with not nearly the impact.
So, coming from a cynical old cop, I believe I’ve found one of the few ex-con who speaks the truth about his desire to become a functioning member of society while attaining culinary heights not often relaized by those who’ve had more opportunities in life. Great book.
This book is incredible. Jeff has an incredible personal story of overcoming adversity. He is an inspiration and the story reads fast and it is inspiring. It can inspire those of us that are unaware of the ’street life.’ We need to hear stories of a young man that over-came the only life he knew and how he has now (as Maya Angelou says) become a rainbow in the clouds. Everyone should read this book and be thankful for all our big and small blessings. I’ve also heard Jeff speak and he is a powerful, engaging and thought-provoking speaker.
To simplify the essence of who Jeff is, he is “the man.” His story and survival is just “wow,” awe inspiring. Not only did he survive the hell and challenges of poverty with no guidance from family, he was drawn into the “bling” world of drugs, fast money and sex. The blessing for Jeff was actually going to prison, and not because this put him on the path to achieving his dream of becoming a world class chef,prison kept him ALIVE.
“Cooked” is a well written book that is so down to earth and engaging, that you want to help that lost boy that was virtually alone in his youth, and celebrate with Jeff his current success. He writes brilliantly and draws his reader in with his beautiful style.
How lucky we all are to share in the “sweets” of Jeff’s remarkable life and “dishes” at the Bellagio. Thanks for changing your life Jeff, we are all benefiting in our waist line.
This is the first book in years, that I bought, without ever hearing about it, without seeing any review, nor ever hearing about the subject. It was a slow book release period, so I was just looking around at the bookstore, and when I picked this book up, and saw that the guy was from San Diego, which is where my son lives. I decided to give it a shot, if for no other reason, than to get some info, to discuss with my son. The story line, of a kid in the ghetto, going from selling $35,000.00 worth of cocaine a week, to being a head chef in Las Vegas, peeked my interest. The beginning of the story, sounded like the same old, “poor ghetto kid, wrong crowd, the world’s against me” crap. I was tired of hearing, that a kid from a one-parent family, has an “excuse” to run with the wrong crowd. All you have to do, is look at basketball star Isiah Thomas’s life story, where, despite living in the absolute worst part of Chicago, his single mom, went so far as to get a gun, to keep the wrong crowd, from getting her son. To move ahead a few years, to when Jeff’s arrested, and goes away to prison for a long time, is where this book started to get interesting. Jeff found all the ghetto slang, and “homie’s”, in the world, wouldn’t erase the rude awakening, and isolation, he found in prison. Who would of thought, that a “lost” cause like Jeff, would find a love for cooking food, (Instead of cocaine!) in prison. Not your normal, macho, music video, subject matter. Jeff discovered, a personal goal, to pursue for the future, which was still, many years away, on the other side of a prison wall. The writing style, is not the greatest, and I did not notice, any “written with”, or co-author credit. So if Jeff wrote it all himself, that would be the reason for it. Since I just got done reading his life story, I know he wasn’t highly educated. This does not take away from the fact, that he dramatically turned his life around, and wouldn’t quit, when he got his chance on the “outside”! He doggedly, and commendably, did everything within his power to reach the zenith of cooking. He is now cooking masterpieces of food, in fine restaurants, that a guy like me, can’t, pronounce, can’t spell, and probably wouldn’t eat. But, I almost feel, like I went through this with Jeff, by reading his book.
I first heard about Jeff Henderson from his television show The Chef Jeff Project in which Henderson, who spent 10 years in jail for drug trafficking, mentors troubled young adults in the area of fine cooking with the hope of steering them in the right direction and hooking them up for jobs.
My expectations for the book were not high, as I feared this celebrity chef had simply “told his story” to a ghost writer who did a quick job to make a book for money.
My presumption couldn’t have been farther from the truth. As I later found out, Henderson began conceiving of the book, and writing it himself, decades ago in prison, haunted by the guilt that selling drugs to people on the streets was not a victimless crime but one of such devastation that he someday wanted to redeem himself and atone for his wrongs by imparting a powerful story of his self-reinvention and ultimate redemption.
His writing voice is powerful and authentic as he explains his rise as a drug dealer, his struggles in prison, and his excruciating post-prison growing pains as he uses all of his might to transform himself into a world-class chef (which he does), develop his personality into a leader, a mentor, and a statesman, disavowing his past criminal ways, and his dedication to his family and community.
This book is free of cant and sanctimonious self-aggrandizement. Henderson tells the story straight with no affectations. He uses his real voice, street vernacular and all. For me, hearing his story was even more powerful because I listened to the audio version, which Henderson reads himself. His voice has all the power such a compelling tale of transformation deserves. Highly recommended.