Cancer is hard to swallow, but wife’s culinary creativity helps

After her husband was diagnosed with throat cancer, making it difficult for him to swallow, Judy Best decided she was going to find the right foods he could eat.

Along the way, Best didn’t just create 175 recipes that were easy for her husband, George Linton, to swallow. She also found a purpose, which was to turn her culinary experimentation into a cookbook to which others in Linton’s situation could relate.

“I just thought one day, ‘I should make a cookbook,’ ” said Best, a Henderson resident. “And I became obsessed.”

The book, “Down Easy: A Cookbook for Those with Swallowing Difficulties,” was released in English in 2012 and was recently translated into French and Hungarian.

Best, who was born in Hungary and moved the United States when she was 9, married Linton in 1985.

“I knew he was the one I wanted to spend my life with,” she said.

Linton introduced Best to fine dining cuisine and inspired her to take up cooking.

She studied at the Gourmet Cookery School of Manhattan in New York, The Institute of Culinary Arts of South France and the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Las Vegas, where she received her diploma.

“It was the hardest work I ever did,” she said.

Her library has hundreds of cookbooks.

“I never really counted,” she said. “That’s just a guess.”

But her skills were put to the test when her husband was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2011, requiring him to go through chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

The process had an adverse effect on his eating habits.

“When they put him on a feeding tube, he was really depressed,” she said.

Best knew she had to do something.

In the 1980s, when Linton was diagnosed with colon cancer, Best put the family on a vegetarian diet to try to help him.

“It wasn’t easy,” Linton said. “Vegetarianism wasn’t popular back then, so it was hard to find recipes.”

But Best believed the change in diet helped. Best was convinced she could find a food solution.

She started with juices.

“I would juice just about anything,” she said.

Her experimentation then moved to smoothies.

It took Linton about three or four months, but he made his way back to solid foods, such as poached eggs or smoked salmon. That was when she had an epiphany that Linton had a better chance of swallowing the food if it still retained a lot of moisture.

She decided to test her theory with Linton’s favorite dish – foie gras. She found foie gras paté and put it on jicama, a root vegetable.

“It has a lot of moisture,” she said.

Linton’s reaction was unexpected, she said. He said it tasted like peanut butter.

“And I never fixed that again,” she said, laughing.

Slowly but surely, Linton ate more and more as he healed.

Though he has dropped nearly 30 pounds since being diagnosed, he said he is cancer-free.

Because of the chemotherapy, his taste buds are weak. He tastes only bits of saltiness and sweetness.

He is able to identify the first two or three bites of his favorite dessert, ice cream. After that, he said he just tastes cold.

They have even had to forgo their love of Indian food because Linton’s throat can’t handle spicy food.

“But I am still here, and that’s what matters,” he said.

For him, some foods, such as chicken or beef, are still impossible to swallow.

“We do a lot of fish,” Best said.

Before every dish, Best describes what she is serving and what Linton should be tasting, trying to whet his appetite.

“I’m hoping one day I can taste more,” he said.

Best knew her creativity in the kitchen had helped her husband through this hard time and wanted others to have the same resources.

It took about nine months to compile the recipes, find an editor and get the book published.

She teared up as she talked about holding the first copy of the book.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I was a girl from a tiny village and never would have thought I could accomplish this.”

In the future, Best said she could see herself writing another book.

“Maybe on cooking without wheat,” she said.

But for now, right before she turns 60, she is just excited to see her book published in several countries.

For more information, visit judybestcookx.com.

Contact Henderson/Anthem View reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@viewnews.com or 702-387-5201.