What’s cookin’ now with local TV chef

“Won’t you come into my kitchen?”

Sylvia Burnett Elbaz sang those words to her bluegrass-style theme song as part of her “Health’s Kitchen” cooking show that originally ran on cable access between 1993 and 1995.

“Sit right down. I’ll take your hat,” she sang. “I’ve got a lot of goodies, but they’ll never make you fat. With whole greens, fruits and veggies, to make you feel so good.

“So let’s cook up our favorite food in ‘Health’s Kitchen.’ Yum yum.”

Elbaz only made 22 episodes of the program, yet nearly a quarter-century later, the nutritionist by training and cooking show host almost by chance can still be found in reruns Tuesday mornings on BronxNet, and Sunday mornings on Manhattan Neighborhood Network.

A lot has changed since the show first aired. First, of course, Elbaz is older. She was coy about her real age, however her “stage age” is 81, she said. Even working as a state-certified nutritionist, people see her profession much differently. For example, nutritionists now advise on what foods promote good health and maybe even prevent disease.

“In the past year or two, I’ve been getting references from doctors for patients that have obesity,” Elbaz said. “Years ago, it never happened.”

Nutrition lingo once reserved for professionals in the field also has become mainstream now, she said. When she wanted to give a talk once in the 1990s at The Riverdale Y about “free radicals,” she was told to leave politics out of it and “stick to nutrition.”

Today, “free radicals” — chemicals in food that could harm cells — and “antioxidants,” which prevent cell damage, are part of the mainstream food vocabulary.

Before Elbaz started “Health’s Kitchen,” she was a science teacher at I.S. 143 in District 10 that has since closed. Two years after retiring, with her kids off to college, Elbaz earned a master’s degree and then started a new chapter in her life … on TV.

When she learned Cablevision was launching a community program channel, she wrote a proposal for “Health’s Kitchen,” and the cable company approved a test episode, or pilot.

Elbaz credits her teaching skills for giving her the tools to create a nutrition show.

“Instead of the test tubes and the Bunsen burners, I’ve got the pots and pans,” she said. “Instead of the chemicals, I have the food. As for planning, I did all the shopping. All those years (were) training me to be able to produce a cooking program.”

Yet, she never planned to become a television chef.

”Health’s Kitchen” was a way for Elbaz to teach about healthy eating by making the dishes and featuring cuisines from around the world and different cultures.

In 1995, the show won the annual Hometown Video Festival, a project of the Alliance for Community Media. Elbaz credited the show’s success to director Michael Locascio and production supervisor Aerin Asher. Both, she said, knew how to make the show, dress Elbaz for television, and create the right look for the cameras.

Locascio passed away in 2012.

“I think that Sylvia, in a way, was ahead of her time,” said Asher, who now lives in Maryland and works in the gardening industry. Elbaz integrated nutrition, food and the body, showing how they all worked together to create good health.

As a result, Asher said, her work stands the test of time.

Michael Max Knobbe, BronxNet’s executive director, agreed. He called Elbaz a “visionary” for what she did her on her shows and educating viewers on healthy eating and cooking. By continuing to submit her shows for air,

Elbaz provides information on healthy food.

At BronxNet, residents can take free classes to learn how to create and produce their own television shows, which the channel will then broadcast.

Elbaz ended “Health’s Kitchen” after her funding ran out. She received a $10,000 grant for the show, which she used to pay her staff and rent studio space. Donations from Whole Foods covered her cooking ingredients, and another company supplied her pots and pans.

Elbaz later received a second grant to make one-minute health tips videos, which she has since posted on her website at HealthsKitchen.com.

Even after all this, Elbaz says she still has just one regret.

“The only thing that I would change is not to use canola oil,” Elbaz said. “Because in those days, I really didn’t know there was no such thing as a canola. There’s olives and you have olive oil. You have avocados. You have avocado oil. So, it wasn’t anything natural.”

And ever the nutritionist, Elbaz had one tip for eating:

“Don’t listen to the news when you eat. It ruins your digestion.”