Jeff Smith

Biography

Jeffrey L. Smith (January 22, 1939 – July 7, 2004) was an American chef—known as The Frugal Gourmet—, television host, and author of various cookbooks.

From 1965 to 1972, Smith was a chaplain at the University of Puget Sound. At the university, he taught a course called Food as Sacrament and Celebration. In 1972, he left the university to open and run Chaplain's Pantry Restaurant and Gourmet Shop, a deli and kitchen supply store in Tacoma, where, until 1983, Smith and his students offered cooking classes to the public.

Smith began his television career in 1973 at KTPS in Tacoma on the show Cooking Fish Creatively, which ran until 1977. It was then renamed The Frugal Gourmet. Smith's wife P...