Christina Cooks for The Cancer Project
Emmy Award-Winning TV Chef Teaches Food for Life Class

Christina Pirello, host of the Emmy Award-winning PBS show Christina Cooks.

She usually works her culinary magic before a nationwide television audience. But Christina Pirello, host of the Emmy Award-winning PBS show Christina Cooks, recently gave lucky Pennsylvania residents a more intimate demonstration of her talent for creating delicious dishes that fight cancer.

An enthusiastic crowd turned out in Bryn Mawr, Pa., in mid-January to enjoy Pirello’s cooking and watch her teach a session of Food for Life, a cooking class series from The Cancer Project that demonstrates how to prevent and survive cancer through proper diet and nutrition. Whole Foods Market, Devon, sponsored the event.

Cancer prevention is a cause close to Pirello’s heart. She knows that healthy food choices can save lives: In her mid-20s, she was diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia and given just months to live.

“I felt like I was living in a bad TV movie,” Pirello recalls in an essay posted on her Web site, www.christinacooks.com. “I moved into this period of denial for a short time. I left the doctor’s office and sat on the sofa in my apartment thinking, ‘I’m 26, this is impossible.’”

That was more than 25 years ago. Doctors noticed Pirello’s condition improving after she embraced a low-fat macrobiotic diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other vegetarian foods. A year later, her cancer was gone. From that moment on, she was convinced of the close relationship between diet and health—a conviction she is passionate about sharing every chance she gets.

On Christina Cooks, which airs on public television stations nationwide, she demonstrates that healthy cooking is both fun and easy. That message is also a key part of the philosophy behind The Cancer Project’s Food for Life classes, which are now taught by dozens of instructors in more than 50 cities across the country.

Designed by physicians and registered dietitians, each class includes information about how certain foods and nutrients work to promote or discourage cancer growth, along with simple cooking demonstrations that can be re-created easily at home.

To find a class near you, call 202-244-5038 or consult our online list. To become a cooking instructor, please contact Brandi Redo at 202-244-5038, ext. 319, or bredo@cancerproject.org.

The Cancer Project News, Winter 2006

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