c. 1998 Religion News Service
BALDWINSVILLE, N.Y. _ The Rev. Charlie Booth feeds his soul by feeding others.
Every Sunday after services at Freedom Church, which he founded and pastors, Booth gets cooking. Actually, he does most of the work Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning in the church’s kitchen or in the small kitchen in his apartment. He single-handedly whips up savory meatloaf, scalloped potatoes and ham, carved turkey and fried chicken, salads and desserts.
Although his congregation numbers only about 30 folks, Booth cooks enough to feed 50 or 100 people. Everybody is welcome to chow down.
“I love food,” he says. “It’s that simple. I love to give away food.”
Booth, 74, now cooks without pay but he once worked as a chef at some of the country’s most prestigious country clubs and colleges and in the most influential house of all _ the White House.
Growing up in Blacksburg, Va., Booth learned to cook from his aunt, who raised him after his parents died. The rest he figured out on his own.
He started his epicurean career as a dishwasher at Virginia Tech University and slowly earned his way into the kitchen. At 19 he became head chef.
He later worked in country clubs and eventually was invited to the White House, where he worked as President Nixon’s meat chef for two years.
Nixon, he says, loved stuffed, fresh cured ham. Booth wrote a cookbook based on his time there called “Confessions of a White House Cook: Truth in the Nixon Kitchen.”
Because his two young children didn’t like Washington, however, Booth left the White House and became head chef at Colgate University and the Colgate Inn in Hamilton, N.Y. There he had five heart attacks, which partially paralyzed him, left him on oxygen and 25 medications, and forced him to retire.
Then, in 1977, Booth says, God healed him. He took off the oxygen mask, dumped the pills and hasn’t needed either since. That’s when he founded his church. Since then, he hasn’t cooked a single meal for pay.
Booth was diagnosed with prostate cancer two years ago, but it has slowed him down only in his own kitchen. He doesn’t cook much for himself anymore, yet he continues to provide physical and spiritual food for the community.
His favorite ingredient?
“A cup full of love,” he says. “That’s the best ingredient in the world. Roast it. Bake it. You don’t need anything else. That’s what keeps me going.”
Eds: Booth’s cook can be bought by calling Freedom Church at 1-315-638-9821. Booth accepts any donation, usually at least $10.)
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