A new five-part documentary is dragging Tacoma back into the uncomfortable spotlight of the Jeff Smith era, revisiting the double life of the man who rose to national fame as the Frugal Gourmet. Survivors and former staff describe years of mentorship in kitchens and classrooms that, according to their accounts, ran alongside long-term patterns of sexual abuse. For Tacoma, where Smith ran the Chaplain’s Pantry and taught at the University of Puget Sound, the series pulls a painful chapter of recent history back into public view.
Filmmaker Chris Johnson released the five-episode series online in late January, making all installments available at once for purchase. According to I Bid You Peace press materials, Johnson weaves together interviews with survivors, former colleagues and journalists to track Smith’s rise, his television success and the allegations that ended his career.
Tacoma origin story and the Chaplain’s Pantry
Smith’s public career started in Tacoma’s pulpits and cafeterias. He served as a campus chaplain at the University of Puget Sound in the 1960s, then left in 1972 to open the Chaplain’s Pantry, a cooking school, deli and catering operation that helped springboard him into television. As detailed by HistoryLink, the Pantry and Smith’s campus classes provided a steady pipeline of young workers who later appear in civil court filings.
Court filings and the settlement
In 1997, seven men filed civil suits alleging sexual assaults that they say began when they were teenagers. The cases were settled just days before a scheduled July 1998 trial, and Smith denied any wrongdoing. Reporting in The Washington Post states that the settlement reached a multimillion-dollar figure and that prosecutors did not bring criminal charges.
Survivors’ accounts on screen
Several men who worked for Smith at the Chaplain’s Pantry recount what they describe as prolonged grooming and episodes of forced drinking, accounts the documentary places alongside court records and vintage promotional footage. One plaintiff, Rodney Pedersen, appears on camera asking, “Who would have believed me against him?,” a moment reported by the Tacoma News Tribune.
Why now: the filmmaker’s case
Johnson spent years gathering interviews and documents, and he says he moved ahead independently after larger distributors declined the project. He opted for a self-release so the full five-part story could stay intact, rather than be cut down. The choice, according to I Bid You Peace press materials, was intended to preserve context and survivor testimony that might otherwise be trimmed.
Legal implications
The 1998 settlement did not include an admission of guilt, and Washington’s statutes of limitation meant criminal prosecution was not pursued at the time. Documents and later reporting that have surfaced, including notes about an earlier confidential payment in 1991, complicate the paper trail, according to HistoryLink, which reviewed court files and contemporaneous coverage.
Tacoma remembers
For Tacoma residents who watched Smith’s ascent from local chaplain to national TV figure, the documentary has stirred new conversations about power, accountability and how tight-knit civic and institutional networks responded to accusations decades ago. Former local colleagues told reporters that Smith elevated the city’s food scene while also consolidating influence, observations noted by the Tacoma News Tribune…