Beef is not the word lifestyle uber-guru B. Smith would use to describe rumored unsavoriness with that other lifestyle uber-guru, Martha Stewart.

Smith politely conveyed her position on this matter recently when she was at Bloomington's megamall promoting "B. Smith Cooks Southern Style," her latest cookbook. "I wouldn't call it a beef," said Smith, "but at one point people were calling me the 'African-American Martha Stewart' and I think that Martha Stewart really didn't like that."

On Tuesday I asked Stewart's NYC PR woman Nicole Sutliff to get me a comment from Martha. "You want to know if that's true? I get the sense that it's not true, but I can ask for sure," Sutliff said. Unable to track down Stewart, Sutliff called back to stress, "I really don't think this is accurate at all. We all love B. Smith."

Smith wasn't bothered by Stewart comparisons. "Now, I liked it because it let people know what I did -- that I'm in the lifestyle business," Smith said. "I like to think I do it with a little rhythm," she added, moving her shoulders.

I did not realize that Smith -- a restaurateur, former Wilhelmina model and producer of products for every area of the home -- was an entertainer until she started singing a cappella for the fans at her book signing.

I also didn't know that Smith has two kinds of Minnesota-made olive oil until her husband, Dan Gasby, went on stage and started giving it away to fans. "There's an extra virgin and there's also an extra light," said Don Bryant, president and CEO of Minneapolis' Alden Group, who was at the book signing. "We're the local company, the manufacturer of the oils, and we have a licensing agreement with B."

Smith's relationship with General Mills brings her to the Twin Cities often enough for her to know the local restaurant scene. "Cosmos, 112 Eatery, Spoonriver" were places they ate, said Gasby, who is chairman of B. Smith Enterprises. Minnesota has "some of the greatest restaurants, restaurant design, innovative food," he said, describing himself as "a New Yorker [who has] traveled all the around the world. At "Spoonriver, I had a vegan dish that was unbelievable. Brenda [Langton, the owner] was there," Gasby said. "She has a waitress named April [Goltz, who] was so wonderful. We weren't even interested in desert and she said, Let me just show them to you. The way she did it was so smooth and so appealing we ended up having desert. Brenda has a great team."

As a big fan of Smith's now-defunct show, "B. Smith With Style," which was entertaining and educational, I'm puzzled by why she's not on Food Network. Smith's erudition and sophistication would be several steps above the current crop of black show hosts, most of whom are folksy caricatures.

At startribune.com/video Smith answers questions about Food TV, her apparently never making People magazine's list of Beautiful People, and why she doesn't wear a wedding band but makes sure "The Great Gasby" does.

Not a lot of people are talking about how cuddly Martha Stewart is these days, except probably Minnesota baking phenom Marjorie Johnson.

Johnson gushed about Stewart in a rapid-fire, 15-minute debriefing on her trip a couple of weeks ago to NYC, where Marjorie won the first-ever pie baking contest on "The Martha Stewart Show." A friend remarked to Johnson on how affectionate Marjorie and Martha were on camera. Are you telling me Stewart's cuddly? I asked. "Well, I was cuddling to her," Johnson said. "I put my arm around her and I leaned my head on her arm because, of course, she's too tall for me to reach the shoulder. I didn't even realize I did that" until told later.

Stewart's all business. Projecting warmth is work for her. While I don't mind Stewart's brusqueness, her competitive business side created some controversy regarding Rachael Ray during a "Nightline" interview. There were a half-dozen ways for Stewart to delineate her superiority to Ray without looking nearly as petty, irritated and envious. Stewart apologized, and she kind of had to after Ray gamely went submissive.

That said, Johnson will always remember how Stewart "smiled and was so nice." Not so nice are the comments Johnson has been reading about herself on websites. Using an agitated, upper register of her voice I have never heard for a sustained period of time, Johnson said, "Somebody thought the thing was fixed! Oh, my Lord! Somebody wrote 'Majorie's a pro.' I am NOT! All I do is bake for the State Fair. I've never been a baker or a chef or anything like that. I just do it for the love of baking." The contest-tasting was blind, she said.

And there was a small amount of suffering, financial and otherwise, that went into delivering her Toffee Pecan Pie to the show. While the author of "The Road to Blue Ribbon Baking with Marjorie" flew to NYC using frequent flier miles racked up from her trips to LA for "Tonight Show" appearances with Jay Leno, she had to fork out $200 a night at a hotel that was conveniently located two blocks from Stewart's studio. On the first day, Johnson had to stand in the rain for about 15 minutes along with more than 150 pie contestants.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. More of her attitude can be seen on FOX 9 Thursday mornings.