This is semi bbq related… Robert at White Trash BBQ prompted this with his blog entry yesterday. It’s a new phenomenon over the last decade of the chef being a celebrity. The Food Network has had a lot to do with it, but they, like HGTV, DIY, the History Channel and many other cable channels owe their starts to PBS with Julia Child, Jeff Smith and others that led the way.
iVillage even has an online test to find out which celebrity chef you are. And I found a good article on NPR (not a fan, but I might as well take advantage of my tax dollar expenditures now and then) on celebrity chefs.
I’ve got some theories on the rise of the celebrity of chefs that used to stay in the kitchen where no one saw them. First, we, as Americans, have more disposable income than we’ve really ever had. What used to be an event is now a common occurrence: going out to dinner at a nice place. With that, we want to choose where we go to eat, and just having good food isn’t enough anymore. We want to know the person cooking (or at least managing) the food.
The Food Network pushes people at us all the time, but you see the ones come back that viewers tend to like. Alton Brown may or may not be a great cook, but he’s my favorite, on his show or hosting Iron Chef America. He’s got a great sense about him, and he’s fun to watch, and I learn more from him than others. Bobby Flay is currently re-imaging himself. He’s not always been ‘liked’, but now he’s doing this new "Throwdown" show where he sets himself up to spotlight a non-chef expert in one area, challenge them to a cook-off, and ultimately lose to them. He’s showing that, while competitive, he can take himself less seriously… He’s a real guy… So he’s making himself more marketable in the process. Rachel Ray… Not a killer cook, not a knockout, but perky and marketable, and the most powerful ‘chef’ in the country right now!
How does this relate to barbecue? The same thing is going on there. OLN shows the All Star BBQ Challenge. Bobby Flay answers questions online about the differences between grilling and barbecueing. Adam Perry Lang, a barbecue chef at Daisy May’s in NYC, goes head to head with Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America. The celebrity is there, even if it’s a more esoteric group in the barbecue world.
In the US, wood chips sales have almost doubled in the last 12 years. According to an article in Fiery Foods, "The Blazing Business of Barbecue", the number of barbecue events has grown 93% since 1987. Even in Denmark (according to this article), they seem to be nuts about American style barbecue (and the number of readers on the blog from there seem to show that out).
We’ve got Chris Lilly, hosting a barbecue show, a chef in Decatur, AL, at Big Bob Gibson’s, known throughout the barbecue circuit.
It may lag behind the typical world of food, but barbecue is moving right along with the chef explosion in the US right now. I’ll talk about this later, but a local kitchen equipment store has asked Mark and me to come in to do a cooking class on barbecue; this is usually a local chef type event, but barbecue is a big deal, and people want to learn.
So with all these ramblings, what I’m saying is that chef status is a good thing today in the US (and abroad). Chefs are talked about like movie stars or pro athletes, and I think people are cooking better at home than ever. Barbecue is also in the spotlight, with huge growth and more and more recognition. It’s good stuff, and I’m glad I’m involved in the whole mess!
I do think you are right about more people wanting to cook better and experiment more at home. That is part of what got me into barbecueing….and watching the Food Network. Love Alton Brown also, he is a pretty good teacher.