Celebrity Chefs, From TV to Stage

[Dignan]

This article in the WSJ explores the phenomenon.

Live performance is a booming business for celebrity chefs, who themselves are a thriving niche of the entertainment world, straddling television, publishing and retail and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. For years, chefs have staged cooking demonstrations at food festivals around the country, often for charitable causes and usually free. These days, top food personalities are charging audiences up to $250 a ticket to watch them cook, hear them banter and, some of the time, eat their food. Speaker-booking agencies that specialize in top authors and former politicians are now promoting chefs. Some chefs are packing in crowds of thousands per live show.

The usual Food Network suspects are present, with Guy F. and Paula Deen and even the Neeleys cashing in. Paula Deen took folks on an Alaska Cruise:

Since getting to know Ms. Deen and her family on the cruise, "my heart aches when I watch [Ms. Deen's] show," Ms. Healy says. "I feel like I'm watching family."

Bourdain is in there with them:

"It's easily the most lucrative part of what I do," says chef Anthony Bourdain, who was paid for about 25 live appearances in the past year and plans to do 40 in the next year. He says the majority of his income now comes from live appearances, rather than his show on the Travel Channel, "No Reservations," or from sales of his books.

Sounds like a lucrative sideline for most participants.

Edited to ask: Anybody been to one?

Edited October 2, 2009 by Dignan (log)

[KristiB50]

My friend won tickets to see Paula Deen at a food show and took me.

I was never a fan of hers and even less of one afterwards as Paula's son and husband did all the cooking while Paula ran around the audience promoting Smithfield and throwing food at the audience. Paula also pulled a piece of her fake hair out, stuck it on a bald man and demanded it back. Klassy!!

We also saw Guy Fieri. He at least cooked and was much more entertaining.

I wouldn't have paid to see either one though.

[Chris Amirault]

Was there any discussion about, you know, food and cooking? Or was it just a celebrity lovefest?

When I covered a Food TV event last year and talked to eager fans of Giada, they all pretty much followed the pattern that the article describes here:

Ms. Hechesky says she once longed to go to culinary school, but never did; Mr. Brown's TV show, "Good Eats," has helped her learn more about food science and cooking techniques. The live show has also given her a chance to meet Mr. Brown in person. At a recent performance in Atlanta, she says, Mr. Brown told her he remembered her. Mr. Brown could not be reached for comment.

Gotta love the journalist who tries to track down whether Alton Brown did, indeed, remember her or not.