Favorite/Least Favorite Food "Celebrities"

erraticninja · August 21, 2003

so I'm sure this subject has been done to death (and I apologize if it has I AM new here after all)

but I'm curious and maybe it will help me check somebody new out...

who are your favorite and least favorite celebrity chefs and foodie types. say a top and bottom 5.

faves:

1. Anthony Bourdain. (nuff said)

2. Alton Brown (a food geek. a man after my own heart)

3. The Cast of Iron Chef.

that's all I can think of right now.

the worst of the bunch:

1. Emeril (BAM!)

2. Rocco (he might have some serious chops. but while i have been watching the resturant i am appaled)

3. Bobby Flay

anyone you particularly love/hate?

=Mark · August 21, 2003

Julia

Alton Brown

Tony Bourdain

David Rosengarten

Kieth Floyd

Emeril

Martin Yan (I know how to count already!)

the sober Graham Kerr

Rachel Ray (call the Perky Police/ Lousy tipper)

Whomever those yutzes are on "How to Boil Water"

Minou · August 21, 2003

who are your favorite and least favorite celebrity chefs and foodie types. say a top and bottom 5.
faves:
1. Anthony Bourdain. (nuff said)
2. Alton Brown (a food geek. a man after my own heart)

3. Jacques Torres

His sculptural application and encyclopedic knowledge of chocolate is … encyclopedic! :blink:

KateW · August 21, 2003

Like:

Anthony Bourdain

Julia Child of course (she was a cooking celebrity before it was cool :rolleyes: )

Jacques Pepin

Don't like: Rachel Ray (I second the too perky thing, although once she winked at the camera and I had a crush on her for about 2 seconds)

used to like Emeril until I opened my eyes and realized he was 90% show, 10% talent. If that.

Raynickben · August 21, 2003

Emeril is a shoemaker.

My husband and I watch the show when we're in the mood for a comedy. He starts out with what sounds like a good dish and sure enough by the time he is finished it looks worse than cafeteria food. It's gotten to be fun for us to guess at what point the dish is going to turn disasterous. Maybe we should make a drinking game out of it.....

ronnie_suburban · August 21, 2003

Faves:

Bourdain

Nigella Lawson

David Rosengarten

Keith Floyd

Jacques Pepin (since reading The Apprentice)

No so faves:

Emeril

Alton (you cannot snub Bourdain at the JBA and stay on my good side)

Rocco

Flay

=R=

erraticninja · August 22, 2003

....Alton (you cannot snub Bourdain at the JBA and stay on my good side)
=R=

oh some i forgot:

Nigella Lawson

Ted Allen from QEFTSG.

and about the alton (do you mean ab from good eats?)/bourdain snub, when did this happen? what happened. i know nothing about this.

this board is so informative. i only discovered it monday night and i've already learned a lot from it.

oh and i hate to admit it but i *like* the almost universally hated Rachel Ray. i don't know why. i can see why she is hated. and she is tooooo perky. but i think she's cute. that said she doesn't go into my list of favorite or hated.

ronnie_suburban · August 22, 2003

and about the alton (do you mean ab from good eats?)/bourdain snub, when did this happen? what happened. i know nothing about this.

AB on AB at the JBA

SobaAddict70 · August 22, 2003

fave:

Julia Child

Jacques Pepin

the late Jean-Louis Palladin

Rick Bayless

Jula Della Croce

Ruth Reichl (for her writing style)

Nigella Lawson (for her writing style)

Lidia Bastianich (for the passion that she brings with respect to Italian food and food in general)

Roger Verge

not so faves:

Madeline Kamman (just her personality, sorry, rubs me the wrong way)

Jeff Smith (he talked too much)

the main restaurant reviewer for the SF Chronicle (pim knows who I'm referring to -- can't remember his name atm)

William Grimes (for his writing style and what I see as a lack of passion for his subject matter)

Amanda Hesser (for her writing style, although truth be told she's gotten slightly better IMO ever since her Food Diary days)

Martin Yan

Graham Kerr (in either incarnation)

Soba

bilrus · August 22, 2003

oh and i hate to admit it but i *like* the almost universally hated Rachel Ray. i don't know why. i can see why she is hated. and she is tooooo perky. but i think she's cute. that said she doesn't go into my list of favorite or hated.

I hate to agree, but I feel the same way. Although I'm not sure I would want to go on one of her $40 trips.

Nick · August 22, 2003

I don't have a TV so I don't see this stuff too often, but in my very limited experience Emeril is way ahead of Rocco. At least Emeril is entertaining - and even does some cooking.

malcolmjolley · August 22, 2003

I find it amusing that so many who put Julia Child in their hero column (quite rightly) put Emeril in their villain column, yet she's on record as giving him very high praise. Aren't they kind of best buds?

browniebaker · August 22, 2003

faves, in no particular order:

Rose Levy Beranbaum - fail-safe recipes; chemistry of cooking

James Villas - excellent food writing; Southern foods

John Egerton - writing about Southern foods

Nigella Lawson - the spirit she brings to cooking

Shirley Corriher - chemistry of cooking

Christopher Kimball - recipe sleuthing, although his tastes skew a bit Yankee

M. F. K. Fisher - excellent food writing; immortal

Lidia Bastianich - lust for life

unfaves:

Martin Yan

Emeril Legasse

Burt Wolfe

too many more to mention

malcolmjolley · August 22, 2003

Someone needs to mention Elizabeth David, so I will.

Maybe the first true "food celebrity" in the sense that she wasn't famous for being a chef or a home economist.

erraticninja · August 22, 2003

i keep adding favorites...

eric ripert

jaques pepin

(mainly because you people keep reminding me of them.)

as far as the whole ab snub. that sucks. and if the others in that thread speak true he's an ass to others as well. which really really sucks. because his show and books are informative and clever and useful. and he did a great q and a on slashdot (the only site i read as much as this one) that put him onto the really like list. but if his personality is that reprehensible... wow now i'm torn.

anyway here is the link to the slashdot q & a http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?...=thread&tid=129

Basilgirl · August 22, 2003

:wub:

Mario

Lidia

Bourdain

Biba Caggiano

Tyler Florence :wub: :wub:

:angry:

Emeril

Any Iron Chef

alkonin · August 22, 2003

faves:

alice waters

mario

julia

ming tsai

least faves:

emeril

the america's test kitchen guy

that horrible paula deen person on food network

bloviatrix · August 22, 2003

I'm fairly unoriginal in my dislikes -- Rachel Ray and Emeril.

The list of likes is long, but here are two no one's mentioned:

Rick Moonen

Francois Payard

zephyrus · August 22, 2003

eraticninja: if you look around the site a bit i think that you will see the anthony bourdain is pretty damn cool....i know that my fellow austin egulleters had a damn good time with him...

bourdain in austin

casey

Edited August 22, 2003 by zephyrus (log)

beegew · August 22, 2003

:wub:

Julia & Jacques (magical together)

Bourdain (I'd cook iguana, if it meant he'd visit here!!! :blink: I WOULD!)

Keith Floyd (esPECIALLY "another slurp for the cook!!!"...used proudly to this day in our kitchen...somebody hire this guy!)

Lidia

Pierre Franey ("...don't buy that cheese that looks like a brick.")

Tyler Florence

Alice Waters

:hmmm: Those who irritate me...

Emeril (Oh, quit playing to the lowest common denominator...)

Marfa

Sarah Moulton (God forgive me, I know she's the sweetest thing since French toast, but, arrghh...)

Nick Stellino

MaryAnne Esposito

Natalie Dupree

:angry: Get that sh*t off my T.V. ...

any eyeball awling Iron Chef

Does anybody show Floyd on anything anymore? :sad: I need a slurp...

rich · August 22, 2003

Best: (no particular order)

Caprial - substance over style

Jeff Smith - for his history of food

Julia Child - just because

Jacques Pepin - technique, technique, technique

Sara Moulton - excellent teacher

the late Pierre Franey - ingredients, just the ingredients

Mario Batali - for his intensity and obvious love of food

Worst: (no particular order)

Nathalie DuPree - the sloppiest cook in captivity

Aside from the above, I don't really dislike any others. Emeril may not be the world's best cook, but he is entertaining. And give him credit, when he started on TV, he had no presence. The man has worked hard.

Bobby Flay may not have an engaging personality, but he can cook.