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Book Details Journey from the Streets to the Stove

In the late 1980s, Jeff Henderson was making $35,000 a week as a major drug dealer in San Diego. He got busted, went to prison and wound up washing dishes on kitchen duty. Then he had an epiphany: He actually liked to cook.

Henderson used his talent and his growing repertoire of recipes to rise through the ranks of the prison kitchen.

After his release, he eventually made his way to some of the best restaurants on the West Coast — where his skills making crack cocaine helped him master fussy French recipes such as foie gras.

Now, Henderson is the an award-winning executive chef at Cafe Bellagio in Las Vegas. The 42-year-old describes his remarkable transformation in a new memoir, Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.