Here's one more thing to love about the award winning, globally-successful master chef Jean Georges. His breakfast of choice as he sits in his SoHo, NYC office and sips cappuccino? Almond buttered whole grain toast with sliced banana. He ate it four days in a row! His explanation: "It’s so good." A simple, healthy, satisfying way to start off any award-winning chef day.
"I Want to live Forever." Jean Georges wants to be puttering around the kitchen for a long time, and he knows that the only way to 'live forever' (or close to it) is to eat a healthy diet. Jean Georges was profiled in the recent post of NY Diet in New York Magazine. Click ahead to read a few of his long-life healthy eating tricks and rules. And to JG, healthy eating is a serious business...
Jean Georges NY Diet: Interesting Finds.
Here are a few of the fascinating tidbits I read in NYMag about JG, his diet and his successful restaurants:
* JG says he never eats butter before dinner. Ever! He says: "I changed the sauce because no butter for me at lunch, ever. "
* Despite the state of the economy, JG is opening ten new restaurants this year as part of a partnership with Starwood Hotels.
* JG says: “I want to live forever,” says the chef “I’m very disciplined for lunch and breakfast, and loose at night.”
* JG loves breakfast, he 'discovered' it in America: "I flew to Washington for my daughter’s graduation. Before that I started my day with some instant oatmeal — Quaker Oats — with a little milk, a little brown sugar. I love breakfast. I discovered breakfast in America. When I grew up in France, it was just yesterday’s bread, toasted. I have coffee in the morning."
* After a decadent celebration brunch in Washington DC, JG hit the gym. Nice.
* JG likes to go to his restaurant Matsugen every Sunday night and enjoy a healthy meal of sushi and soba.
* At his office in SoHo, NYC, JG enjoyed a simple, healthy and vegan-friendly breakfast of almond butter toast, on whole grain bread, ith some sliced banana. If that was a soy capp. it would be vegan! He ate this breakfast four days in a row, his explanation for the repetition: "It’s so good."
* JG goes to his restaurant Jean-Georges whenever he is in NYC.
* JG eats healthy, simple meals for lunch like: "I had a piece of arctic char at Jean Georges. When I’m in New York, I’m there every day. I steam it in a CVap at a very low temperature, 180 degrees, for five to six minutes. I ate that with some sautéed artichokes and a piece of lemon."
* JG is not a snacker, but never misses his meal times: "I don’t snack, but I never miss a meal. I always have breakfast around 9 a.m., lunch around 3, dinner at 9:30 or 10."
Jean Georges is awesome. He is an amazing chef who seems to be respected and loved by everyone. From the James Beard crowd to celebs and business people like Donald Trump, to the vegan gourmet foodies (like me) to the everyday joe who happens to try one of his restaurants. He understands that at the core of the best cooking is high quality ingredients and treating those ingredients with subtle flavor accents and treatments during preparation. He is a big advocate of raw foods. Not necessarily the vegan kind, but he loves raw fish etc. I applaud JG for being such a shining example to how an award-winning chef can embrace fruits vegetable and spices and not simply brag about all the amazing meat and heavy cream sauces that might be on a menu. He is a healthy meal advocate! What a great thing. If you've never tried a JG restaurant, I suggest you do. I have been to many, and they always accommodate my vegan diet. My faves are Spice Market, Mercer Kitchen, Jean Georges and Matsugen.
Read more about JG at his website.
Read this article in its entirety at NYMAG.COM