Tag Archive for 'celebrity chefs'

Culinary Careers and Hollywood Fame

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on March 21, 2011
in Culinary Schools
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The popularity of culinary school has been on the rise in recent years, and celebrity chefs have a lot to do with it. In the past, the only way to achieve true “fame” as a chef was to become noted in your city for great cuisine and a unique restaurant, or to become a personal chef to the stars. However, beginning with Julia Child and moving up through the ranks to today’s big names like Mario Batali, Alton Brown, and Rachael Ray, many chefs are proving that you can cook good food and create the kind of name that builds a lasting culinary empire.

Becoming a “Celebrity” Chef

The celebrity chefs that most of us know and love are little bit more celebrity and a little bit less chef than their public image suggests. While many of the top chefs on television have incredible pedigrees from culinary schools like Le Cordon Bleu, the French Culinary Institute, or the Culinary Institute of America, the truth is that very little of their time is spent in the kitchen. For every dish you see prepared on TV, and for every colorful photo in the latest celebrity cookbook, there is usually a team of qualified cooks and chefs helping to contribute.

In fact, celebrity chefs tend to be favored more for their ability to be personable on camera than any prowess with a knife. Of course, this doesn’t make the job any less difficult; from branding and marketing to making personal appearances, celebrity chefs put in quite a few hours. And their background proves they’re able to handle the job. In addition to a good culinary education, many of these professionals have:

  • Decades of experience
  • Culinary training from overseas
  • Work history at a famous restaurant
  • Apprenticeships under a famous chef
  • Experience writing cookbooks
  • A culinary teaching background
  • Top-rated restaurants
  • Gourmet food lines

Unfortunately, becoming a celebrity chef is a bit like becoming the next big performance artist or Hollywood star—there are just a few dozen slots and tens of thousands of people who’d like to fill the role. And in most cases, the celebrity chefs we know and love have spent their fair share of time on the prep line, working as dishwashers, servers, and line cooks.

This is all a very complicated way of saying that there is no way to simply become a famous Hollywood chef. Unlike working your way up through a law firm to become a partner or going back to school to get a medical degree and become a doctor, chefs must find their own way to success. The most you can do is go to the best culinary school you can, work hard, and dedicate yourself to the food you create every day…and hope that your winning personality and unique vision will set you apart from the crowd.

Related Topics:

Does TV Glorify the Culinary Career?

Can I look to Cook from TV Shows?

Find a Culinary School in Your City

How to Find and Choose the Right Culinary School

Published
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on September 15, 2010
in Culinary Schools
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Choose the Right Culinary SchoolIt is always a pleasure when someone mentions your web site or blog so I would like to thank The Reluctant Gourmet for including our blog on his new Squidoo lens called How to Find and Choose the Right Culinary School.

What is a Squidoo

Squidoo is a community website that allows users to create pages (called lenses) for subjects of interest. It was created by Seth Godin, Megan Casey, Corey Brown and Gil Hilderbrand, Jr and is one of the top 300 most viewed in the United States.

The Reluctant Gourmet’s Lens

How to Find and Choose the Right Culinary School consists of several “modules” each discribing different topics pertaining to finding a culinary school and choosing the right one. He looks at

  • What do you want in a culinary school?
  • What do you want to do after you graduate? (Poll)
  • Where to research culinary schools online?
  • Culinary career outlook
  • Financial outlook for the culinary industry
  • Books to read
  • Another poll on where you might want to work
  • An interview with a culinary student

And then there is a place where you can leave comments.

So if you are thinking of changing careers or starting a career in the food industry, we highly recommend you look at The Reluctant Gourmet’s lens, How to Find and Choose the Right Culinary School

Does TV Glorify the Culinary Career?

Published
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admin
on December 11, 2009
in Culinary Career
. 1 Comment

There’s no question that culinary schools are seeing a surge in interest in recent years. More students are applying for and getting into the culinary programs of their choice than ever before, and new schools and facilities are opening every month. However, this increase in students also means an increase in graduates.

While the food service industry continues to grow at a faster-than-national-average rate, the percentage of positions at the top – the Executive Chefs, the restaurant owners, and the celebrity chefs – remain fairly static. This means that although you might have dreams of your culinary education leading directly to fame and fortune, success in this field may not be as easy as it first appears.

Part of the recent surge in interest in a culinary education is the number of smaller fine-dining venues being celebrated around the country. Large chain restaurants will always be popular, but diners in every city are discovering more diverse palates and looking for ways to eat well on their current budgets. The culprit for this interest? Television.

Celebrity chefs like Rachel Ray, Emeril Lagasse, Anthony Bourdain, and Tom Colicchio have turned fine dining into something that even Middle America can enjoy. Their television shows introduce new ingredients and new cooking techniques to a wide audience of viewers. The result is that more and more people are clamoring for some of that good cooking.

While this is good news for culinary students interested in entering the field, it’s important not to fall into the trap of thinking that a culinary career is as glamorous or as easy as these celebrity chefs make it seem. Almost all television chefs have entire teams behind them, preparing food, adjusting recipes, and doing the cleanup work; their actual time spent in the kitchen is not always that high.

They may spend hours each day marketing, promoting, getting makeup put on, and meeting with producers. And while these types of activities can make for a good career, it may not be what put you on track to a culinary education in the first place.

There are also considerations of entry-level work to consider, as well. All the TV chefs are at the middle or ends of their careers. They may have spent years working the line, working 10 hour days, or even watching their own first restaurants fail. Most culinary students can expect to lay plenty of groundwork before the real benefits of a culinary career start to hit.

While you should never let these types of obstacles stop you from pursuing the culinary career of your dreams, it’s important to embark on your studies with open eyes. You can achieve success after culinary school. You just have to work hard to get there.

Where Some Top Celebrity Chefs Went to Culinary School

Published
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on May 4, 2009
in Culinary Schools
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The best route to being a successful chef usually involves getting a solid culinary education. The country’s biggest celebrity chefs are a great example of this. From the Culinary Institute of America to the French Culinary Institute, these schools have sent out some of the most famous chefs of our day. Have you ever wondered what cooking school your favorite chef attended?

Cat Cora: Cat Cora has gained a lot of attention as one of the “Iron Chefs” on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America. She attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and in addition to Iron Chef America, she has co-hosted the Food Network’s Kitchen Accomplished. She has also put her cooking school education to work by co-founding the charity Chefs for Humanity.

Rocco DiSpirito: This famous celebrity chef also intended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. DiSpirito has won the James Beard Award for one of his four cookbooks, as well as being named as “American’s Best New Chef” by Food and Wine Magazine. The instructors in his culinary programs are probably not terribly surprised to note that People Magazine also named him its “Sexiest Chef Alive.”

Bobby Flay: With numerous cookbooks and several television shows under his belt, Bobby Flay is one of the most famous celebrity chefs in the United States. His culinary education at French Culinary Institute where he received the first “Outstanding Graduate Award” years later prepared him to create the Southwestern cuisine for which he has become so well known.

Tyler Florence: With television credits that range from broadcast TV to cable specials, Tyler Florence is a true celebrity chef. His education at the College of Culinary Arts at the Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina prepared him not just to cook, but also to write numerous cookbooks.

While not all celebrity chefs have attended cooking school or baking school, some of the most famous and popular ones credit their culinary education for their success. For those who want to follow in their footsteps, looking into culinary programs can be the best place to start.