A Food Network THROWDOWN at the Mount

Food Network chef visits Frederick County, cooks alongside Mount St. Mary's faculty member for television

by Connor Adams Sheets | Gazette Staff Writer

The Rev. Leo Patalinghug makes a mean "fusion fajita," but the Catholic priest never expected it would land him on national television.

That is exactly what happened June 9, when the Emmitsburg resident participated in a "throwdown" with celebrity chef and Food Network host Bobby Flay at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg.

Food Network told Patalinghug that they wanted to film a cooking show based on his organization Grace Before Meals, which encourages families to eat meals together as a communal activity to keep youths from getting into trouble. The priest has published a cookbook and blog of the same name.

Producers showed up June 8 at the university, where Patalinghug was hosting a Grace Before Meals seminar and demonstration, speaking to families and cooking his specialties.

On June 9, as Patalinghug was cooking in front of about 60 people gathered for the event, Flay showed up unannounced.

"In the middle of the second day of the event, Bobby Flay comes," he said. "As I'm discussing my dry ingredients for the marinade, I hear a little rustling on the sideline, and … the producer had to wave me to look [in] his direction, and Bobby Flay was over there smiling and nodding his head. I can't even remember how he proposed the throwdown."

Once he wrapped his head around the idea, and accepted Flay's challenge, Patalinghug was ready to get cooking.

"With God as my witness, I'm not afraid! Bring your fajitas, let's throw it down!" he said to Flay as they began to whip up their versions of fusion steak fajitas, standing side-by-side before a delighted crowd.

The results of the competition are not permitted to be released, per Food Network rules, but viewers will be able to watch the segment and find out for themselves when the episode of "Throwdown! With Bobby Flay" airs at the end of August or beginning of September, Patalinghug said.

Patalinghug was born in the Philippines and raised in the Baltimore area. He developed a love for cooking while attending the seminary at the North American College in Rome. He was ordained in 1999 and served as a parish priest for five years in Westminster. He has been a member of the faculty at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary since July 2007.

So how did Flay find out about Grace Before Meals and the humble Catholic priest who serves as its public face? Patalinghug does not know for sure, though he says Flay did tell him he found him through his own research.

Grace Before Meals producer Tim Watkins said he wasn't sure how Patalinghug was chosen either.

"The [Food Network folks] are pretty secretive in their ways of picking people for throwdowns, but I'm assuming that it was because of the increased amount of press Father Leo's been getting for the Grace Before Meals movement," Watkins said. "I can only assume that what piqued their interest was the novelty of a cooking priest."

That novelty has taken Patalinghug far in his career with Grace Before Meals, from broadcast news spots to a profile that ran on the cover of The Washington Post.

The organization's goal is to get families back at the dinner table together four or five times per week, talking to each other and being involved in each other's lives while breaking bread and giving thanks to God.

"I do know my food has never won any awards, but it has won over hearts and minds, and that's my objective is to remember that food is not the end, it's a means to an end: the gathering of family and friends, the recognition of blessings," Patalinghug said. "That's the ultimate goal, really, that food can provide."

E-mail Connor Adams Sheets at csheets@gazette.net.

For an update about the broadcast date of the Food Network segment featuring Grace Before Meals and the Rev. Leo Patalinghug of Emmitsburg, check www.gracebeforemeals.com.