Cooking Show Host Sees Perfect Mix of the Western and the Eastern

I knew Sylvia Elbaz from her cooking show "Health's Kitchen" on PBS affiliate WNYC-TV.  Ms. Elbaz’s success with Heath's Kitchen, and her career in nutritional consulting, earned her considerable recognition.  She has been interviewed on television by CNN, UPN9, TV Global of Brazil, TV News at 10 Tokyo, and on radio by Gary Null (WBAI) and South African Broadcasting Corp., Capetown (Woman Today).

As nutritionist Sylvia acknowledges great value of holistic wellness from Shen Yun's performance which she watched at New York’s Lincoln Center.   Sylvia is truly a talented lady, - she is also a singer and guitarist, writing and performing the theme song for her show.  Her website speaks of her life-long love of international music and dance.  That's why she had many wonderful things to say about the messages from ancient China she took from Shen Yun show.


"It was beautiful—the way they mix the Western and the Eastern," she said, referring to Shen Yun's orchestra which is unique for its blend of Western and Chinese musical traditions.

"I was curious about the drums ... It's so interesting how everything comes from China. I'm familiar with the Japanese, when they do the Teiko drum, but it comes from China!"

She reflected on China's long, 5,000-year history, which Shen Yun draws on for its performances. “They're saying its 5000 years, how are we going to catch up?” she said.

The culture of the US, in comparison to China's, is quite small as it is only only a few hundred years old, she said. “We're like an infant compared to China," she said. "There's no way we can compare.”

Ms. Elbaz noted the show's message: "The truth shall live on, the beauty shall live on, love shall live on—that's really what it is."

The retired host said she knew something about ancient Chinese history before going to see Shen Yun from studying Buddhism.

"We have so much to learn. Everything in there, the poetry and so forth," Ms. Elbaz said.

"When they talked about the moon, the earth, the rivers and the plum trees, and the ... such an awareness that it’s not just us lording over, we are part of it all, and that was in it. That was in everything," she said.

In the show, the performers touch upon the aspect of predestined relationship and reincarnation.
"It was such an awareness of the vastness of the universe and that we have that responsibility," she said.

"I'm so glad they have this message, you know, because we need more of it," she said. "We need these messages over and over and over again. So that it's not them and us, we're all together."

According to Ms. Elbaz's beliefs, what the performance made her think about is the goodness in people. “We all have this highest nature. We have to be able see it in everybody," she said. "When we realize our own high nature, we see the nature in other people, and that's how we should relate."

She added, "I just wish for China that, how can I say, that the truth would come out, that joy would come out, that they wouldn’t be suppressed."

Ms. Elbaz said that in her professional career, she has learned a lot about ancient China. "As a nutritionist, I do so much that is based on the The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine from 5,000 years ago," she said, adding that she applies many techniques and theories from the Yellow Emperor's classic book.

Overall she said, "I've got to tell my Chinese friends, 'If you weren't here you'd better get here.'"