Smith was born in Tacoma, Washington on January 22, 1939. He graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a degree in philosophy and sociology in 1962. When he graduated from Drew University in 1965, Smith began teaching cooking classes to his students called "Food as Sacrament and Celebration", and was ordained as a minister in the United Methodist church. Smith came back to the University of Puget Sound, to become a chaplain of Aldergate Methodist Church in 1966, and married his wife Patricia "Patty" Smith that same year. In 1972, Smith and his students opened and ran a deli and kitchen supply store in Tacoma, Washington, called Chaplain's Pantry Restaurant and Gourmet Shop. In 1973, Smith began his television career with his first cooking show, "Cooking Fish Creatively", on a local Tacoma, Washington PBS station, KTPS-TV. The first six episodes of "Cooking Fish Creatively" were broadcast in black and white, and then, the station began using federal grant for color cameras, because Smith was asked to design a new cooking show, he called it "The Frugal Gourmet". The name was suggested by his wife, Patty. The program was later moved to WTTW-TV in Chicago, and then, by KQED in San Francisco, and A La Carte Communications, where it aired nationally on PBS from 1983 to 1997. Known himself as "The Frugal Gourmet", Smith's nickname quickly became "The Frug". Smith always appeared wearing his "trademark" blue and white striped apron. His first cookbook, "Recipes from The Frugal Gourmet", was published in 1977. The theme music for "The Frugal Gourmet" was the Bourree movement from "Water Music" by George Frideric Handel. When Jeff Smith released his first hardcover cookbook in 1984, he hit the talk show circuit.