Bobby Deen: From Mama’s Table to Mine
LIFESTYLE CHANGES
Three years ago, Paula was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and in January 2013 she went public with her diagnosis. Paula told her sons that she needed to stop drinking sweet tea and start exercising. The announcement caused an uproar considering her reputation for cooking Southern food. (Since then Paula, has lost 30 pounds. )
When he turned 30, Bobby was 25 pounds overweight. He decided to start exercising and eatly healthy. “When I started to run and lift weights, my relationship with food changed naturally,” says Bobby. He uses his mom’s recipes and then replaced some of the ingredients without jeopardizing the integrity of the recipe. If Paula called for full-fat mayo, then Bobby, for example, simply used low-fat or low fat with yogurt. “There’s a lot of flavor in fat,” says Bobby. “But by being smart, the dishes have a fresh or earthy taste.”
Bobby lives by the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the time, he watches what he eats and is strict with his lifestyle choices. The other 20 percent, Bobby says, he enjoys whatever he is doing or eating. “It’s not about deprivation,” he says. “It’s about a lifestyle change.”
Bobby will show us:
Chicken Fried Steak, page 71
Mini Savannah Crab Cakes, page 14
Yes You Can Mac and Cheese, page 102
Green Bean and Onion Casserole, page 140
Red Velvet Cake, page 158
NOT SACRIFICING COMFORT FOOD
Bobby, 42, is the younger son of TV host and Southern cooking legend Paula Deen. As a teenager, Bobby and his older brother, Jamie, worked for their mother who had an at-home meal delivery business. Eventually Paula launched her restaurant, The Lady and Sons, in Savannah and both sons were instrumental in the operations. At that time, the Paula Deen brand was in its infancy. He worked behind the scenes, using his business experience and work ethic, to identify, market and build his mother's image into one of the most successful in entertainment brand history.
Soon Jamie and Bobby began planning their next steps: appearing on their mother’s shows on The Food Network and then launching their own show called Road Tasted. The show brought in a younger demographic but didn’t lose any of the aspects of the Deen brand. Together he and Jamie are creating and managing the publishing, new media and television for the Deen Brothers media brand.
