An interview with chef and cookbook author Del Sroufe by Nell Alk. Images 3-7 are from Sroufe’s new book, Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook, and were photographed by Cara Howe.
Columbus-born, -bred, and -based Del Sroufe, author of Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook, has been a whiz in the kitchen since he was a wee one—eight years old, to be exact. “I’m self-taught,” he beams. A professional chef for 23 years, it wasn’t until he was hired at a vegetarian restaurant in 1989 that the Midwest man was first introduced to this less-than-conventional cuisine. “I fell in love,” he recalls. “I slowly became vegetarian and, by the time I opened my own bakery, I’d become vegan.”
He’s referring to Wellness Forum Foods, which has offered freshly prepared foods to shop visitors and shipped them frozen to customers across the country since 1997. “If you live in Ohio, you can come see me,” he grins, rattling off the amenities available to locals, which include classes, catering, and “…a deli case brimming with yummies.” Everything’s cruelty-free, of course.
Sroufe has always battled with his weight, which was a major motivation behind his initial adoption of a plant-based diet. Even while eschewing meat, dairy, and eggs, however, Sroufe packed on the pounds. The problem, he discovered, was processed and refined foods, devoid of nutritional value yet full of calories.
Thanks in part to the proximity between that discovery and the revelations advanced by breakout documentary Forks Over Knives—and of course to his own life-saving health overhaul, which he explains in greater detail below—Sroufe has come a long way since his slump. Now he’s on a roll with this book, in the midst of a four-week run on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and is justifiably optimistic about what’s to come. Read More…
