How This Philly Chef Lost 160 Pounds
Chef Mike Stollenwerk before and after his 160-pound weight loss.
You might’ve seen Chef Mike Stollenwerk’s name floating around in the past few months, probably in regard to his newly opened seafood-centric BYOB restaurant, 26 North, in Old City. But along with whipping up culinary creations on the daily and dealing with the grind that comes with a new restaurant, Stollenwerk has also been working at something else: keeping off the 160 pounds he’s lost in the past few years.
We chatted with Stollenwerk — who, fun fact, studied food science at Drexel — to find out what kinds of challenges he faced as a chef trying to lose weight (we guessed many), what he thinks of the “fat chef” stereotype (a dying breed, it seems) and, of course, what tricks he uses to transform what could be dull food into a delicious meal (hint: he loves avocado just as much as your friends who won’t stop posting avocado-toast Instagrams). Below, see what Stollenwerk had to say about all of the above and more.
