New chef on Hill shines ‘a light in the darkness’
by ANNE BARR
Carl Grear and the Seventh Day Adventist Church, 8700 Germantown Ave., are on a mission: they want to make Chestnut Hill residents healthier. Grear, the new chef at Expressly Vegetarian Café, located in the church’s basement, likens the mission to being a “light in the darkness.” But the multi-talented Grear has been hired to do more than feed your belly something healthy; he wants to lead you to wellness.
Grear is perhaps uniquely qualified to expand the mission of the café, which was started as an outreach of the church in 2001. On any given day, customers can stroll into the café and chat with this tall, serene gentleman in the chef’s hat. “People really like the hat,” notes Grear, who has worn a variety of hats in his life, all of them relevant to his current position not just as the café’s chef, but as the director of wellness at the church.
Originally from northern California, Carl Grear started out studying to be a Seventh Day Adventist minister at Oakwood College in Alabama. From there he went to Pacific-Union College, but after graduation no longer felt certain about being a minister. Instead, he studied hotel and restaurant management and went on to study for a time with an Austrian pastry chef. “The emphasis of my education,” explains Grear, “was classic French cooking with an emphasis on sauces and soups. This works especially well with vegetarian cooking.”
For 20 years, though, Grear departed from his love of cooking and became a teacher in Seventh Day Adventist schools, eventually becoming principal of the Mt. Sinai Seventh Day Adventist School in Trenton, N. J., where he and his wife still live. A few years ago, however, Grear accepted positions in food service at Muhlenberg College and then Bristol Myers-Squibb Pharmaceuticals, but the chef decided he “did not want that sort of big, corporate environment.”
At Expressly Vegetarian, Grear has found his niche. He particularly enjoys Chestnut Hill, noting, “It’s reminiscent of some neighborhoods I knew in northern California.” At Expressly Vegetarian, Grear cultivates a “peaceful environment” and enjoys getting to know people by name, commenting, “It really draws people in.” He also relishes the opportunity to be creative and try out new things. Grear believes his particular strengths are the soups and the veggie burger. “It’s vegan,” notes Grear, “which means it has no dairy or egg, no animal fats of any kind.”
The Seventh Day Adventist organization has no particular doctrine demanding a vegetarian diet. Grear says it has more to do with the church’s emphasis on good health, and diet is an important part of that. “The body is the temple of God. We should put into it what should be in it and not simply what we want.” According to the official Web site of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, members are encouraged (but not required) “to adopt the most healthful diet possible.” Additionally, “since alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and the irresponsible use of drugs are harmful” to the body, members are encouraged to abstain from them as well.
Throughout the summer Grear has run a course entitled “10 weeks to Wellness,” which he hopes to offer again. On the third Tuesday of each month, he offers a cooking class from 7 to 8:30 p.m. that all are welcome to attend. Grear also heads up a team from the church that includes his wife, Shirley, and former café manager Jennifer Schwirzer. In the future they hope to offer programs relating to general health education as well as emotional healing and well-being. “These are all aspects of wellness,” notes Grear.
Carl Grear would like to serve you at the Expressly Vegetarian Café and learn to know your name. The café is currently open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can shake Grear’s hand and see his chef’s hat for yourself. One thing is for certain; whatever hat Grear is wearing, he is sure to wear it well. (For more information, call 215-247-6700.)
