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  • Chef Mark Anthony prepares a vegan meal for the nuns at Good Counsel. The Las Vegas-based chef, who visited Mankato this week, performs across the country promoting a vegan diet and a fight against cholesterol. Tim Krohn

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October 15, 2010

Celebrated chef Mark Anthony brings special flavor to Good Counsel

By Tim Krohn The Free Press

MANKATO — As chef Mark Anthony flipped sizzling vegetables in frying pans,  animatedly joked and dodged from kettle of vegetarian chili to bowl of meatless taco blend, he had all the markings of a Vegas showman.

The Las Vegas-based chef and caterer, who’s client list includes Jack Nicholson and Joan Jett, was at ease in this decidedly un-Vegas venue — performing for the nuns at Good Counsel.

Sister Dianne Perry, development director for the School Sisters of Notre Dame, presumed Anthony was the first Vegas act to entertain the nuns. “This is big news.”

Anthony — who performs about 240 shows a year across the country, promoting a vegan diet and condemning the ravishes of cholesterol — was drawn to Mankato through familial ties and a devout faith.

Two of his aunts, Luella and Roselle Zoller, are nuns at Good Counsel and a third, Helen Schmitt, is from the area.

As an executive chef at several Vegas casinos, beginning 23 years ago, the 46-year-old served up plenty of red meat and animal products. But a stint as a chef in a hospital — and his own ballooning weight of 305 pounds — brought a life change.

“I saw everyone sick from cholesterol. It’s killing us,” said the now 211-pound chef.

“Ninety percent of our death rate is from killer diseases — heart disease, diabetes. It’s because 41 percent of our food is from animals and only 7 percent is from fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Anthony said a vegan diet — using no animal products, including milk or cheese — balances the system and leads to a healthy body, mind and spirit.

“And it happens in that order. It has a domino effect. When you get the cholesterol out of your system, you eat less, feel better, have more energy, and it makes you more spiritually connected.”

The emphasis on animal-based and what Anthony believes are other unhealthy food choices are pushed, he said, by marketers and even the government.

“When they came out with the food pyramid, our health went down the drain. And they change it every five years. Which one are we supposed to believe?”

He said healthy cooking doesn’t have to be difficult, is as tasty and is much cheaper.

Anthony said being healthy and being thin aren’t necessarily synonymous. “It’s not so much the weight, there are heavier people with low cholesterol that are healthier than skinny people. Cholesterol clogs the arteries, not necessarily weight.”    

Anthony never charges the churches, universities, hospitals and other groups he performs for and doesn’t charge people at the door.

“You don’t have to buy a book or anything. You won’t leave with a new timeshare.

“I just pass the hat. God has provided every step of the way.”

 

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