Way, way better than you do. Even when he's eating kosher.
The latest Bon Appetit magazine includes a cool profile of the New York Knicks All-Star, discussing his relationship with his personal chef Maxcel "I love cholent" Hardy, and Stoudemire's interest in keeping things Torah-safe in his diet. It's a fun read, just not if you're hungry. Because the food discussed, and the recipes the piece links to, will have your stomach growling. Speaking from experience.
Here's a portion, so to speak:
But it's not all lobster tails and midnight feasts for friends. Last summer, Amar'e announced to Hardy that he was interested in learning more about a kosher diet. A recent trip to Israel had strengthened Stoudemire's spiritual feelings—and focused his ideas about diet. "I have a Hebrew background, and I read the Torah, which really explains the proper way to eat. I spent a week in Israel, just studying," Stoudemire says. "From an athletic standpoint, I figure if you want to have a strong body, why not eat kosher?"
Hardy was way ahead of him: "I told him the story about when I interviewed with a kosher catering company." They'd asked Hardy to make matzo ball soup, which he'd never done. "I just kept thinking to myself, This is like making hush puppies. When I served it, the rabbi grabbed the matzo ball out of the soup with his hands and threw it against the wall to 'test' it. It busted up everywhere. 'Perfect,' he said. 'You're hired.'"
Now Hardy buys kosher beef and chicken and avoids pork—though there are allowances. "If Amar'e had a good game, he might want crab legs, or maybe lobster macaroni and cheese."
This is what you get, when you drop 25 and 10. We added a can of tuna fish to our mac and cheese when it was time for mom to cook dinner (my father's a chef, and he worked nights) growing up; but perhaps lobsters would have been in the offing for supper had I dominated the paint in the world's most famous arena before chow time.
The entire piece is a great read, as are the recipes included in the profile. Especially this brilliant piece of advice from the hip-hop artist Fabolous:
"You can't go cold turkey on fried chicken, you know?"
Indeed, good sir. Indeed.
