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A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Several chefs have been credited with being the first celebrity chef, among them historically Bartolomeo Scappi and Marie-Antoine Carême.

In the modern era since the advent of television several chefs have been attributed the title of the "first celebrity chef", including Julia Child in the United States and across the Atlantic, Fanny Craddock in the UK. While television is ultimately the primary way for a chef to become a celebrity, some have achieved this through success in the kitchen and achieving such awards as Michelin stars while others are home cooks.

Celebrity chefs can also massively influence cuisines across countries, with foreign cuisines being introduced in their natural forms for the first time due to the work of the chef to inform their viewers. Sales of certain foodstuffs can also be enhanced, such as when Delia Smith caused the sale of eggs across the UK to increase by 10% in what has since been termed the "Delia effect". Endorsements are also to be expected from a celebrity chef, such as Ken Hom's range of bestselling woks in Europe, but can also lead to criticism over which endorsements are chosen such as when Marco Pierre White teamed up with Bernard Matthews Farms, or when Darren Simpson advised and endorsed fast food restaurant KFC.

History[link]

Bartolomeo Scappi, personal chef to Pope Pius V

Pre 1900s[link]

The earliest chef to be credited with being a celebrity was the 16th century Italian, Bartolomeo Scappi.^[1] He was the personal chef to Pope Pius V, and is credited with writing one of the first modern recipe books, Opera.^[1] The 19th century French chef Marie-Antoine Carême has also since been referred to as a celebrity of his era, due to the complexity of his recipes.^[2]

20th century and television[link]

The earliest television celebrity chef in the UK was Fanny Cradock.^[3] She appeared on British television for over two decades, from the 1950s through the 1970s.^[4] She originally became popular following the publication of her first cookbook in 1949, The Practical Cook, and after gaining a cult following with cookery demonstrations in theatres around the country. Her television career came to an end when she appeared as a judge on reality television show The Big Time in 1976. She appeared to pretend to retch as contestant Gwen Troake described her menu for former Prime Minister Edward Heath. Presenter Esther Rantzen later described the incident as like "Cruella de Vil meets Bambi".^[5]

Described as America's first celebrity chef,^[6] Julia Child first appeared on American television in 1963 on the Boston based WGBH-TV. She soon starred in her own show The French Chef, which was followed by other shows. At the time of her death she was credited by the media as having "demystified the art of cuisine for the home cook and inspired many of today's celebrity chefs".^[7] Such was her impact on American cuisine, her kitchen has been preserved on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.^[8]

In recent years, gaining a Michelin star has increased a chef's profile sufficiently for them to be featured on television and become a household name. Marco Pierre White became the youngest chef in the world to achieve three Michelin stars,^[9] which went on to make him a household name and have one of his cookbooks, White Heat, described in 2005 as "possibly the most influential recipe book of the last 20 years" by food critic Jay Rayner.^[10] More typical of Michelin starred restaurants in recent years, the success of Gordon Ramsay led to the commissioning of five part television series Boiling Point by the UK's Channel 4 which followed the chef as he opened his first solo restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.^[11] While Joel Robuchon, Alain Ducasse and Gordon Ramsay all run restaurant empires which each hold more than ten Michelin stars, Ramsay is arguably the more famous chef due to his number of television shows broadcast internationally both in the UK, the United States and around the world.^[12]

Dedicated food related television channels have also become a medium for chefs to become household names, for example in the United States, the Food Network features shows from celebrity chefs such as Paula Deen and Bobby Flay.^[13][14][15] While in the UK, the Good Food Channel has shows with chefs such as Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver.^[16] Certain chefs, such as Nigella Lawson have had shows featuring on channels in more than one country.^[13][16]

Influences[link]

Jamie Oliver's campaign on the quality of school dinners changed the government standards in the UK

Celebrity chefs have changed the style of food that the general public consume. For example, despite the fact that Asian cuisine had been available in the UK since the 1960s, it was only due to the influence of chefs like Ken Hom and Madhur Jaffrey in the early eighties that the public became aware that these anglicised meals were not the authentic article.^[17] Tying into his first television series in 1984,^[18] the book Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery sold 1.2 million copies in the UK alone.^[19] Chef Jamie Oliver ran a campaign in the UK in his television show Jamie's School Dinners to introduce better eating habits in school dinners for schoolchildren.^[20] The campaign saw a change in food standard requirements across the UK,^[21] and the show was exported to the United states for the same purpose.^[22]

Endorsements[link]

Endorsements by celebrity chefs have led to increased demands for certain food products. Both Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson caused a surged in sales of goose fat after including it in recipes,^[17] and Ken Hom's first television series caused a surge in sales of peking ducks.^[19] Endorsements by Delia Smith became so well known that the "Delia effect" was added to the British dictionary in 2001.^[17] For example, her How to Cook series caused a ten percent spike in egg sales alone,^[23] and sales of tinned minced beef and Fray Bentos tinned pies went up by around 12 percent following the publication of How to Cheat at Cooking.^[24]

Product range tie ins on housewares have also becoming a staple part of a celebrity chef's income. More than 4.7 million of Ken Hom's endorsed wok range have been sold in Europe.^[18] The writing of cookbooks have also been a regular product of the celebrity chefs, from both those which have gained Michelin stars, and home style cooks which have had books produced as a tie in for television shows.^[25]

Certain endorsements by celebrity chefs have led to high levels of criticism from the food industry and the public. In 2011, Australian chef Darren Simpson created a range of burgers for fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken, leading to comments being posted on Twitter such as "Darren Simpson you complete and utter sell-out. KFC? Seriously?".^[26] Australian television chef Colin Fassnidge said that the move by Simpson resulted in him becoming a laughing stock, and that while celebrity chefs can make a fortune from such deals, they also risk their credibility.^[26] In the UK, Marco Pierre White drew criticism after teaming up with Bernard Matthews Farms in March 2010 to create a range of ready meals which were dropped after a year of production.^[27]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Top Ten Earning Celebrity Chefs, Forbes Magazine
• Americans' Insatiable Hunger for Celebrity Chefs, National Public Radio

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ML Sirichalerm Svasti (born 16 July 1953), frequently nicknamed Chef McDang,^[1] is Thai celebrity food expert, chef and writer. He is an only one Thai chef who has his own training class called “Principle of Thai Cookery” with Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.^[2][3]

Early Life and Career Path[link]

Born into the Thai royal family, McDang completed his early education at Cheltenham College (Gloucestershire, England), Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, (Washington DC, USA) and at the Culinary Institute of America (New York, USA), which led to a career as executive chef at The Marriottee Reach Hotel (Key West, Florida, USA), Food & Beverage Director for Paul Tripp Restaurant Group (Key West Florida, USA) and restaurant owner and manager of Back Porch Cafe’ (Rehoboth Beach, DE., USA) that saw him travel from Washington DC to Florida and California.

Thai Executive Chef and Food Expert Route[link]

Upon returning to Thailand in 1993, McDang began writing about food & cooking and appeared on TV cooking shows. Sixteen years later, McDang is Thailand’s most famous food expert and a respected ambassador for Thai cuisine.^[4] He is the author of several best-selling Thai language cookbooks, host of the popular weekly TV program, ‘McDang Show’, pens weekly food columns for leading Thai and English-language newspapers, and consults for a number of companies, including Bangkok Airways, Siam Winery^[5] and Wai Wai instant noodles.

At an international level, McDang has appeared on a number of TV shows and has performed lecture tours in Australia and New Zealand. Each year he is invited to lecture at culinary schools in the USA about Thai cuisine. It is the notes for these lectures that form the basis of his first English language cook book The Principle of Thai Cookery, which is due to be published in 2009.^{[dated info]}

Bibliography[link]

Since 1998, McDang has written 8 books. Chef Mcdang also writes a "McDang Guide" column, which presents good foods and great restaurants in Thailand and around the world in the local Thai newspaper. (Daily News, second largest circulation newspaper in Thailand).

Thai Language[link]

• McDang Cook Book. (1998)
• Yum Thai Yum Farang Cook Book (1999)^[6]
• McDang Cook Book 2 (2000)
• McDang Guide 2001 (restaurant guide) (2001)
• McDang Guide 2003 (restaurant guide) (2003)
• McDang’s Recipes (2003)
• Mcdang Guide (restaurant guide) (2004)
• Delicious Food from McDang’s kitchen (2005)^[7]

English Language[link]

POTC “Principle of Thai Cookery” (2010)

Television Shows in Thailand[link]

• McDang Show (MCOT Channel 9, 2007 – present)^[8]
• McDang’s Kitchen Weekly (ITV, 2003–2007)
• Father & Son Kitchen (ITV, 2000–2003)
• McDang Koo Krua (Channel 5, 2000–2001)
• McDang Plang Ros (Channel 7,1998–2000)
• Krob Chakraval Kitchen (Channel 9, 1997–1998)

International Television Cameo Appearances[link]

• Guest appearance with Gordon Ramsay on Channel 4's Gordon's Great Escape, Series 2, Episode 4, (UK, 2011)
• Guest appearance with Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations (USA, 2009)
• Guest appearance with Jeff Corwin on Extreme Cuisine Citizen Pictures (USA, 2009)
• Appears in Taste Takes off to Thailand 2004 (New Zealand, 2004)
• Guest on City Cabs / Letterbox (USA, 2003)
• Guest and consultant for Planet Food Thailand on the UK Travel Channel (UK, 2001)

References[link]

1. ^ Chef McDang on YouTube
2. ^ "Principle of Thai Cookery" with Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts on YouTube
3. ^ "Principle of Thai Cookery" with Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts
4. ^ Thailand’s most famous food expert and a respected ambassador for Thai cuisine
5. ^ Siam Winery
6. ^ Yum thai Yum FarangCook Book
7. ^ Delicious Food from McDang's Kitchen
8. ^ McDang Show

External links[link]

• Homepage for Chef Mcdang

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Chris Hardwick
Hardwick at the Louisville Palace in Louisville, Kentucky on June 19, 2009
Birth name	Christopher Ryan Hardwick
Born	(1971-11-23) November 23, 1971 (age 40) Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Medium	Stand-up, music, television, film, podcasting
Nationality	American
Years active	1991–present
Genres	Observational comedy, sarcasm, musical comedy
Subject(s)	Human behavior, self-deprecation, pop culture, nerd culture
Notable works and roles	Hard 'n Phirm Host of Singled Out Host of Wired Science Host of Web Soup Host of The Nerdist Podcast Otis in the Back at the Barnyard series Host of Talking Dead Host of BBC America's Ministry of Laughs
Website	http://www.nerdist.com/

Christopher Ryan "Chris" "Big C" Hardwick (born November 23, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, emcee, actor, writer, musician, podcaster, television personality, and voice artist. He is best known for performing with Mike Phirman in Hard 'n Phirm, hosting Singled Out, Wired Science, Web Soup, and The Nerdist Podcast, and the current voice of Otis in Back at the Barnyard. In 2011 he began doing intros and outros for a new BBC America Britcom block, and hosting a live half-hour talk show on the AMC network, Talking Dead.

Early life[link]

Hardwick was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of former professional bowler Billy Hardwick and Sharon Hills, a real estate agent in Pasadena, California.^[1] He was named after American sportscaster Chris Schenkel.^[2] He grew up in Tennessee, attending St. Benedict at Auburndale K-12 School, then attended Regis Jesuit High School in Colorado, and then Loyola High School for his senior year.^[3]

Hardwick studied philosophy at UCLA, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity during his freshman year.^[3][4] Hardwick was roommates with Wil Wheaton for some time.^[5][6] They met at a showing of Arachnophobia in Burbank, California.^[5]

Career[link]

Hardwick was a DJ on influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM during the mid-1990s.^[3] In the fall of 1998, he starred in the UPN comedy Guys Like Us; the show aired 12 episodes before it was cancelled in January 1999.

He appeared in Rob Zombie's horror films House of 1000 Corpses and Halloween 2.^[3] He also made a small appearance in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. In 2010 he was featured in the film The Mother of Invention. Hardwick was in episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Married... with Children,^[3] Boy Meets World^[3] and Zoey 101. He was also a guest commentator on VH1's I Love the 90s series which aired in 2005.^[3]

He appeared as a television host on hip hop group Little Brother's 2005 album The Minstrel Show.

Hardwick plays the melodica, notably as part of Hard 'n Phirm.^[7]

Currently, Hardwick is a contributing writer for Wired magazine (since 2007), writes for Web Soup and Back at the Barnyard,^[3] and makes regular appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Chelsea Lately. As part what Hardwick calls his "nerd media empire", he runs Nerdist Theater, an entertainment space at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles.^[8]

He entered into an equity partnership with GeekChicDaily in June 2011^[9] to form Nerdist Industries.^[10]

In February 2012, GeekChicDaily fully merged with Nerdist Industries and became Nerdist News with Hardwick operating as Chief Creative Officer.^[11]

Voiceover work[link]

Hardwick voiced Alexander Hamilton in The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd and Otis in the Barnyard series (the character was originally voiced by actor Kevin James in the movie Barnyard: The Original Party Animals). He also provided the voice for Green Arrow/Oliver Queen on The Batman and was the voice of Glowface in The X's.^{[citation needed]}. Hardwick also did voice work for The Minstrel Show from the rap group Little Brother and narrated the introduction video for the flash game George Plimpton's Video Falconry.

Hosting[link]

Hardwick was first known as the host of MTV's Singled Out. While working on Singled Out, he met Jacinda Barrett, to whom he was engaged but never married. Later, he hosted the syndicated dating show Shipmates. As of October 2007^[update], he has been hosting Wired Science on PBS, writing for Wired, and works as a reviewer on Attack of the Show's "Gadget Pr0n".

On June 7, 2009, he became the host of G4's Web Soup, a spinoff of E!'s The Soup. Hardwick had previously guest hosted The Soup's predecessor, Talk Soup.^[12]

Since February 2010, he has been producing the "Nerdist" podcast, which he hosts with Jonah Ray and Matt Mira.^[13] The podcast was named one of 2010's best by The A.V. Club^[14] and one of the 10 best comedy podcasts by Rolling Stone.^[15]

In May 2011, Hardwick signed a deal with BBC America to host a pilot of a panel talk show for the network based on the podcast. The deal also included Hardwick doing intros and outros for BBC America's new Saturday night Ministry of Laughs comedy block of Britcoms.^[16]

Hardwick also hosted the 2011 SXSW Interactive Awards show in Austin, Texas.

Since 2011, Hardwick has been hosting Talking Dead, a live half-hour talk show companion series to AMC's hit series The Walking Dead. Hardwick interviews celebrity fans of The Walking Dead as well as members of its cast and crew, interacts with the studio audience, re-airs clips of the episode, plays games with and polls the viewers via the Internet, and offers exclusive clips of the next episode. The first season of Talking Dead ended on March 18, 2012.

On December 24, 2011, BBC America aired The Nerdist: The Year in Review, a comedy special hosted by Hardwick. Celebrity guests included David Tennant and Simon Pegg with Hardwick in London; and Nathan Fillion, Wil Wheaton, and Weird Al Yankovic in Los Angeles.

In May 2012, Hardwick became the spokesperson for WIRED LIVE Expo.^[17]

Stand-up comedy[link]

Hardwick in July 2011

Hardwick is also a stand-up comedian and performs with Mike Phirman in the music comedy duo Hard 'n Phirm, whose half-hour comedy special Comedy Central Presents: Hard 'n Phirm premiered in January 2008.^[18]

In 2004, Comedy Central used some of his material for an animated series called Shorties Watchin' Shorties.^[19]

In 2007, both his solo standup and duo act were featured on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death Ray. Hard 'n Phirm completed several songs for the 2009 Rob Zombie animated movie The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. Hardwick has announced plans to do a live stand-up album from his 2009 tour. He has toured as a featured comedian for Joel McHale.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Hardwick appeared as a stand-up comic on John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show twice.^{[citation needed]} In the same year, Hardwick performed on the Comedy Central show The Benson Interruption (starring Doug Benson).

On July 19, 2011, Hardwick performed for troops from the 124th Air Support Operations Squadron at Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest.

On February 17, 2012, Chris Hardwick filmed a one hour stand-up special for Comedy Central in New York City. Jonah Ray was his unaired opener.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Hardwick gave up drinking alcohol in 2003.^[21] He dated singer Lisa Loeb in 2004.^[22] He was in a relationship with actress Janet Varney from 2004^[23] until 2011.^[24] Hardwick is dating Chloe Dykstra.^[25]

Filmography[link]

Television work[link]

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As himself[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chris Hardwick
• Chris Hardwick on Twitter
• Chris Hardwick at the Internet Movie Database
• "Chris Hardwick: Nerdism For Fun And Profit" at LAist.com
• Wired Science Team: Chris Hardwick

Guy Fieri

Born	Guy Ferry [1]) (1968-01-22) January 22, 1968 (age 44) Columbus, Ohio, U.S.[2]
Education	University of Nevada, Las Vegas (BS)
Current restaurant(s) Johnny Garlic's California Pasta Grill Tex Wasabi's
Television show(s) Guy's Big Bite Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Ultimate Recipe Showdown Guy Off the Hook Minute to Win It

Guy Fieri ( /ˈɡaɪ fiːˈɛri/; born January 22, 1968 as Guy Ferry^[1]) is a United States restaurateur, author, television personality, and game show host. He co-owns five restaurants in California^[3] and is widely known for his television series on the Food Network.

By mid-2010, the Food Network had made Fieri the "face of the network."^[4] In 2010, the New York Times reported that Fieri brought an "element of rowdy, mass-market culture to American food television," and that his "prime-time shows attract more male viewers than any others on the network."^[4]

Career[link]

Although Fieri has no training as a chef, he worked at various restaurants during high school, and then went on to manage and own restaurants.^[5] After graduation in 1987, he went to work for Stouffer's, developing restaurant concepts in Southern California ^[4] and managing their flagship restaurant in Long Beach, California. After three years, he became District Manager of Louise's Trattoria, managing six locations along with recruiting and training for the restaurants. Fieri attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management in 1990.^[6]

In the fall of 1996, Fieri and business partner Steve Gruber opened Johnny Garlic's, an Italian restaurant in Santa Rosa, California. A second location opened in Windsor in 1999, a third in Petaluma in 2000 or 2001 (since closed), and a fourth in Roseville in late 2008. Subsequently they developed Tex Wasabi's (barbecue and sushi) in 2003 in Santa Rosa, adding a second location in Sacramento's Arden-Arcade area in 2007.^{[citation needed]} An additional Johnny Garlic's was opened in Dublin, CA in 2011.

Television[link]

After winning the second season of The Next Food Network Star ^[7] on April 23, 2006, Fieri was awarded a six-episode commitment for his own cooking show on Food Network. Guy's Big Bite premiered on June 25, 2006 and was renewed for a second season that began airing in early 2007. The show continues.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, his second series, premiered in April 2007 (a one-hour special aired in November 2006), with Fieri traveling the country visiting local eateries. The New York Times called the series "not a cooking show as much as a carefully engineered reality show."^[4] Ultimate Recipe Showdown, co-hosted with Marc Summers, debuted on February 17, 2008 and aired for three seasons. On September 14, 2008, Guy Off the Hook debuted on Food Network. This special studio audience show aired through the end of 2008, but the extra cost of staging an audience show did not result in a ratings bump and the concept was discontinued. For Thanksgiving 2008, Fieri hosted a one-hour special titled Guy's Family Feast. He used the "Guy Off the Hook" set for the special, which was broadcast live, on Friday, November 28, 2008.

Fieri has also appeared on other Food Network programs such as Dinner: Impossible in 2007 and 2009, Paula's Party, Ace of Cakes, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate.

In December 2009, NBC named Fieri as the host of the game show Minute to Win It, which premiered in March 2010 and aired for two seasons.^[8] On May 13, 2012, NBC announced that the game show will not be renewed for a third season, citing high production costs and low ratings.

In January 2012, Guy was one of the two team captains (along with Rachael Ray) in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off.^[9]

Advertising[link]

Fieri has appeared in promotions for Flowmaster, a California-based auto exhaust parts manufacturer. In 2008 and 2009, he was the spokesperson for T.G.I. Friday's.^[10] In 2010, he appeared in a commercial for Aflac named "Spicy."^[11]

Other projects[link]

In 2009, Fieri began touring with the Guy Fieri Roadshow, a multi-state food tour that featured some of his fellow Food Network personalities.^[12][13] He also appears in regional Food Network events, such as the Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival^[14] and the South Beach Food and Wine Festival.^[15]

Personal life[link]

Fieri lives in Northern California with his wife Lori, sons Hunter and Ryder, and his dog Rockstar. He collects classic cars and features his own red 1967 Chevy Camaro SS Convertible on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Guy also owns a 1971 Chevy Chevelle, 1968 Pontiac Firebird, 1976 Jeep CJ-5, 1996 Chevy Impala SS, 2004 Cadillac Escalade and a 1967 Chevy C10 pickup[1].

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Guy Fieri

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Guy Fieri

• Official Website
• Guy Fieri's Biography at FoodNetwork.com
• Guy Fieri's profile and diary from The Next Food Network Star at FoodNetwork.com