Jeffrey L. Smith (January 22, 1939 – July 7, 2004) was the author of several cookbooks and the host of The Frugal Gourmet, a popular American cooking show.

The show began in Tacoma, Washington, as Cooking Fish Creatively on local PBS station KTPS (now KBTC-TV), where it aired from 1973 to 1977.

In 1972, he left the university to open and run Chaplain's Pantry Restaurant and Gourmet Shop, a deli and kitchen supply store in Tacoma, where Smith and his students also offered cooking classes to the public.

Smith began his television career in 1973 at KTPS in Tacoma with a show called Cooking Fish Creatively, which ran from 1973 to 1977, and was then renamed The Frugal Gourmet.

Chicago Tribune food and wine columnist William Rice wrote, "I've tried to cook his stuff, and let's say it was hit or miss.

Newsweek writer Laura Shapiro criticized him as "a prime example of prominent cooks who may compromise their integrity by being paid to recommend food products and kitchen ware."

Six of them alleged that they were molested as teenagers in the 1970s while working at the Chaplain's Pantry in Tacoma; the seventh claimed that he was assaulted in 1992, at age 14, after Smith picked him up as a hitchhiker.

[1] Smith denied the allegations, and no criminal charges were filed, but he and his insurers settled the cases for an undisclosed amount in 1998.