Vegan chef brings his cooking show to Porterville

Las Vegas chef Mark Anthony is on a mission to do something Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has not been able to do — keep the nation’s collective cholesterol count at a healthy level.

Anthony is on his way to Porterville, and will give his message, and his cooking techniques, to the community. He travels around the country year-round to spout his message of vegan cooking and healthy eating.

Sunday he will demonstrate his wares at the Porterville Seventh Day Adventist Church.

His involvement and love affair with fruits and vegetables had an interesting beginning.

“I used to be an executive chef for hospitals, and really got into a lot of doctors and did a study on health,” Anthony said by phone from his Las Vegas residence. “The biggest problem is getting off [high] cholesterol. Americans have the highest cholesterol in the world, which is a major cause of death; 150 years ago people didn’t have the diseases we have today.

“I started doing more and more homework, and found that, statistically, people with low cholesterol never die from heart disease and strokes if it’s below 150. Most vegans have a cholesterol level of 125.”

High cholesterol causes fatty deposits in blood vessels, he said. Eventually, these deposits make it difficult for enough blood to flow through the arteries. The heart may not get as much oxygen-rich blood as it needs, and that increases the risk of a heart attack. Decreased blood flow to your brain can cause a stroke.

Anthony, who has been a chef for 25 years and lost 75 pounds in two years eating vegan, says we are all brainwashed.

“We’re brainwashed by society with the food pyramid,” he said. “The government spends millions a year for us to consume milk and dairy. If everybody went vegan we wouldn’t even need health care.”

The traveling vegan chef takes his show on the road to raise awareness, and he does it for free.
“We toss the hat around and people can donate, but I don’t charge,” he said. “I’m doing every state in the country, going into senior centers and churches.

For the record, traditional vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, or poultry; they do not use animal products or by-products such as eggs, dairy products, honey, leather, fur, silk, wool, cosmetics, and soaps derived from animal products.

Ron Gerking, Porterville Seventh Day Adventist Senior Pastor, contacted Anthony to bring him to Porterville.
He researched him, and was impressed by what he learned.

“I see his visit as an opportunity for people to learn a new way of eating and a new way of cooking,” Gerking said. “You hear about the issues of weight and cholesterol all the time on the news. I think one of the reasons is people don’t know what to do.

“Those same news shows tell you to eat more fruit and vegetables, but they don’t tell you how to cook them, how to make it happen.”

Gerking said one of his church members saw Anthony on a TV program, and said “We need to have him here.”

It’s not that there is a real problem in the congregation, he said.

“One of the things I noticed, having grown up Adventist, there is a tendency among Adventists to judge about what a person eats or doesn’t eat,” he said. “At one time, probably 80 percent of Adventists were vegetarian, now it’s about 50.

"To be honest, some tried to tie diet into salvation. Every church has its fanatics, and we still have room to grow. It’s true some of us have baggage as we try to grow. I’d like for this to be an opportunity for community involvement.”

Gerking said he hopes he will learn how to live healthier as a result of Anthony’s presentation, and that the community will come “experience something positive and have a good time.”

Anthony said helping people live healthier longer is what it’s all about for him.

“You know the saying ‘never trust a skinny chef,’” he asked.  “Shouldn’t it be ‘never trust a fat chef?’”

-- Contact Anita Stackhouse-Hite at 784-5000, Ext. 1043, or astackhouse-hite@portervillerecorder.com

How to attend
What: Vegan cooking demonstration
When: 2 p.m. Sunday, April 11
Where: Porterville Seventh Day Adventist church, 1055 Linda Vista Drive
Contact: For more information, call 539-0855, 359-0680.