Star-Studded Meals - recipes from celebrity chefs

Vegetarian Times, March, 1999 by Lisa Turner

Carol Quigless started cooking professionsally when she noticed two big trends: people were becoming health-conscious and more people were working. "In other words," says the self-trained entrepreneur, "no one was around to cook. It seemed like a great opportunity." About 12 years ago, she rented a commercial kitchen and began supplying Mrs. Gooch's and other health food stores with prepared natural foods. Shortly after that, she started a meal delivery service called Home Dining Delight that specializes in various styles of healthy cuisine. "I had to figure things out on my own, and it was a lot of hands-on training,' she says. "But experience can be a very good teacher. The more I read, the more I came to believe it's necessary to eat organic and vegetarian. I had a lot of health problems in my family, so for me it was a real ground zero decision."

Who she's cooked for: Magic Johnson, Carol Burnett, John Candy, Danny Thomas, David Bowie, Iman, Jason Alexander, Warren Beatty.

What she eats: "J love soups, but I don't really feel like cooking after I've been cooking all day long." Quigless says. "So I usually eat fruit salad or juice or salads with different kinds of lettuce, sprouts and beets."

Genee Wilner learned how to cook in Bob Dylan's kitchen, after he hired her to make meals for him and his family in 1977. She went on to take classes in a variety of cooking styles, including macrobiotic, and started a natural foods deli in Santa Monica's One Life natural food store. In the mid-'80s, she started working as a private chef for celebrities and catering services. "I was just sort of thrown into it," she says. "When I started cooking for Bob Dylan, I didn't really know how to cook. I would read cookbooks, compare recipes, call friends and ask how to cook different things. It got to the point where I could `taste' a dish just by reading the ingredients."

Who she's cooked for: Helen Hunt, Jim Carrey, Bob Dylan, John Larroquette, Steven Seagal, Jane Fonda, Al Pacing.

What she eats: "I eat miso soup a lot--it has a very centering effect--and I eat salad every day, with every meal," Wilner says. "Even though it's just salad, you can get really creative." Her favorite: mixed baby greens with apples, currants, walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese.

Lisa Turner is a freelance writer and the author of Meals That Heal (Healing Arts Press, 1996) as well as Mostly Macro (Healing Arts Press, 1995).