Is the celebrity chef culture over?
First there was Tyler Florence shilling for Applebee's. Now Alton Brown is pushing grape juice.
Have we had enough of celebrity chefs, or is it morphing into something different? Local food, perhaps?
Where does the Serious Eats community think this will go in the coming year?
Who do you think is the talent to watch?
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25 Comments:
No. But I think it's going to take an awful lot for the new breed of celeb chefs to impress us.
Hint #1 - Endorsements don't do much for credibility, except for a select few respected companies.
Hint #2 - People who win contests on reality shows are just that. Doesn't make him or her a chef or worthy of my attention.
therealchiffonade at 3:34PM on 12/15/08
I like Ina.
pjracz10 at 3:56PM on 12/15/08
I know I get tired of the overload...you know, the Rachel Ray phenomenon...we all loved her when she was sweet and simple and had one show...but then it was like we were bombarded with her multiple shows and specials and merchandising and magazine and cookbooks and talkshows and blah blah blah...
I'd like to think we'll go back to the early days of Celebrity Chefdom, like the Ming Tsai's of the world...who were great chefs in their own restaraunts, maybe do a few books, have ONE show at a time...you know?
juliebugsmama at 4:01PM on 12/15/08
They really need to tone it down. I think un-starstruck foodies will not take them seriously. Some of them do have alot to offer, but being in your face 24/7 just starts to grind on one's nerves. I think they should get back in the kitchen and remember what got them where they are now. Hey, celeb chefs you got your millions, give it a break for awhile. We won't forget you if you inspire us with something (non sponsored) good to eat.
finsbigfan at 4:29PM on 12/15/08
The endorsements part does not do a thing on my part, other stars do this all the time, whether for cosmetics, insurance geritol, colas, kmarts, any marts. The things that I have seen the celebrity chefs endorse seem to be something that the "general pubic" seems to enjoy simply dining at, or is a product that the "general public" enjoys to purchase and eat. I mean they have to be, they are national chains that are expanding, someone has to be eating or using their products. I have been to TGIF's before (not to eat but drink) but the place is always packed with people, I do not know about Applebee's never been in one before. If I was a celebrity chef and was approached for something to endorse that I thought was a nonthreat to humanity or environment, you bet I would do it. These are just family style places to eat or products to drink, what a harmless little glass of grapejuice? Please, it not like they are endorsing warfare chemicals.
pjracz10 at 5:13PM on 12/15/08
That's ridiculous. When a movie star endorses some product, it's essentially meaningless; the star doesn't purport to have any expertise in the area of the endorsement. Celebrity chefs, OTOH, are supposed to be food experts. So if they endorse some food-related product without fully believing in it, they're betraying their audience, which relies on their expertise.
I think Celeb Chef culture is retarded in general, myself.
Sneakeater at 5:51PM on 12/15/08
I seriously doubt Tyler Florence eats at Applebee's or Big Bite Guy eats at TGIF's. Hell my dog won't eat leftovers from those places.
chardonnay at 6:32PM on 12/15/08
I don't think the majority of the general population gives a crap about celebrity chefs. They would eat at TGIF and Applebees because they think that stuff is actual food.
As for celebrity chefs I think its like baseball. Not everyone follows baseball or knows the players; who is who. We don't all collect baseball cards or cookbooks and some of us don't care who is cooking we will watch cooking or baseball regardless.
JerzeeTomato at 6:50PM on 12/15/08
@alisoneats, I think your suggestion is quite right, the direction food is taking is definitely locally grown - there is mounting interest in this and people are beginning to listen to chefs like Jamie Oliver who are exponents of eating locally grown food - the weekly food columnist in our local newspaper up here in Canada has just announced that locally grown food will be her focus for 2009.
I enjoyed a five week trip to Europe this Spring, and it was an magical for me to see the love and concern and dedication that the Europeans have towards food preparation from fresh, local and in many cases, organic material. Just walking amongst the stalls at Isle de la Sorgue in Provence, was quite an eye opener - watching folk as they contemplated what they would buy for the family table. I had a mental comparison of myself rushing down the aisles of a supermarket shoving things into the cart, without much thought at all!
Recently, my son walked out of my kitchen with a bag of garlic in his hand and asked why I bought garlic that came from China - I was flabbergasted to say the least, but it was an epiphany. I resolved then and there to take more care in purchasing our food and to look for locally produced items.
bareneed at 6:51PM on 12/15/08
In what way is Tyler Florence hawking Applebee's like Alton Brown selling fruit juice? Applebee's is (basically) bad food. Welch's grape juice, while not necessarily the best thing ever because it still has fruit sugars in large amounts, is still just fruit juice and has some defensible nutritional value to boot.
Have we had enough of celebrity chefs? Not sure who the "we" is, but given the following such chefs and their restaurants and shows seem to have, I'm going to venture that no, people generally are just fine with celebrity chefs.
Local food is local food and it doesn't seem to me that celebrity chefs (who, you know, cook food) is anything that is at odds with local food. It seems, in fact, like celebrity chefs are cooking more local food.
I don't know what you mean when you ask "Where does the Serious Eats community think this will go in the coming year?" Do you mean where the standing of celebrity chefs will go? Or local food? Or something different? (I don't mean this in a snarky way at all, I seriously just don't understand the question in context.)
ccbweb at 6:52PM on 12/15/08
I see 2 kinds of celebrity chefs: 1) the TV kind (Bourdain, Rachel Ray, etc) and 2) the Chefs who are famous for their cuisine first: (Keller, Ducasse, Boulud, Vongerichten, etc)
The TV kind I am sick of. The 2nd group I adore.
SweetHeat at 7:25PM on 12/15/08
To add to what SweetHeat said, I'm loving the 2nd group more than ever. Since high end meals are a no-go for now, I love that Dallas chefs like Kent Rathburn and Dean Fearing set their recipes loose into the web-o-sphere. I may not want to pay for Jasper's or Fearing's, but I can still do up one fancy meal.
pookywookyster at 7:32PM on 12/15/08
ccweb, good question, and to clarify: Do you think the public's interest will shift more to food (be it local food, cuisine, etc.--essentially, what's actually on the plate) than personality?
Hope this helps, because I'd love to know what you (as in you, specifically) think.
Thanks!
AlisonEats at 9:26PM on 12/15/08
...you know, the Rachel Ray phenomenon...we all loved her when she was sweet and simple and had one show...
I call this Emerilization although the first personalities inflicted with this torture by TVFN were David Rosengarten and The Two Hot Tamales - not to mention Sarah Moulton. It was only after Emeril was shoved down our throats in a) Seventy Bajillion TVFN shows; b) a failed prime time series; and c) TV commercials, I had the "aha" moment that led to the term "Emerilizing."
When will TVFN learn overexposure is the kiss of death? Granted, for some it's relatively quick and painless but eventually it all leads to the same thing - lack of credibility and career damage.
therealchiffonade at 9:13AM on 12/16/08
@chiff Don't diss Emeril! He invented garlic :D
finsbigfan at 9:18AM on 12/16/08
@fins - No worries. I attended a taping of Emeril Live - way back before he had music! Must have been around 1997 because I moved to CO shortly afterward. It was a fun show and Emeril made cooking approachable for a lot of people. I only wish TVFN didn't clone his image ad nauseum.
therealchiffonade at 1:41PM on 12/16/08
@chiff ahh 1997... back when TVFN was interesting. I learned much back then as Emeril and David Rosengarten (sp?) were my faves. That's when I first took a real interest in cooking. Kids were old enough to start enjoying things and DH was tired of eating off the kiddie menu.
finsbigfan at 2:04PM on 12/16/08
Tyler designed a menu for Applebees why wouldn't he not eat his own s#$t? AB 's endorment for grapejiuce was just on, nothing wrong w/the juice. I do agree though that it is a bit annoying to see RR everytime you turn around in the supermarket. Alot of the other celebrities today that endorse products whether food or non foods are well aware of the products they endorse and have turned down endorsing something because of how it is made or other political reasons. Anyhow if they want to do a commercial that is their business.
pjracz10 at 6:48PM on 12/16/08
@Fins - 1997 was definitely the heyday of TVFN. They were (I believe) still showing the old repeats of Julia Child shows, along with a whole host of really great Food TV.
As far as celeb endorsements, I find the whole thing cheesy. If AB were to pimp, say, King Arthur Flour, something cooks generally view as a superior product, the viewing public could believe he actually uses it. Credibility intact. Grape Juice? Maybe he actually likes it...Maybe not. Swanson Stock? No, thank you. Applebee's??? This will not strike anyone as very obscene unless, of course, you've eaten at an Applebee's. They make Olive Garden look good. Credibility - down the toilet keeping the Tidy Bowl Man company.
therealchiffonade at 7:27AM on 12/17/08
Part of the confusion stems from the erroneous categorization of people like Tyler Florence and Alton Brown as "celebrity chefs" -- whether you like them or not (and I do like AB), the vast majority of the people starring in current Food Network shows are "television personalities" not celebrity chefs.
Celebrity chefs are people like Boulud, Waters, Atchez, Keller, Adrià, Ducasse, Vongerichten...Stellar chefs who are so well-known, they have achieved fame and celebrity.
Regarding sponsorships, an endorsement or sponsorship of some particular product does not necessarily represent a sell-out. It depends on a number of things, including the endorser's qualifications, his/her reasons for endorsing, the product being endorsed, etc. That said, Food Network represents the commercialized, dumbed-down version of foodie-ism. Its TV personalities are employed in the field of commercial television. Engaging in commercial sponsorships and endorsements is part of their profession, so it's not exactly a sell-out. Furthermore, it makes perfect sense that they endorse mediocre, dumbed-down products that no *real* foodie would ever use (e.g., Applebees, TGIFs). After all, FN personalities are mostly just mediocre, dumbed-down versions of real celebrity chefs, on a network that mostly caters to a poorly informed, dumbed-down food audience. There are a few notable exceptions, but this is pretty much the reality of the current Food Network.
For the most part, the public that is interested in FN personalities and the products they hawk is going to be interested in whatever the commercial media tell them to be interested in. If they are told to be interested in local foods, they will promptly become interested. If they are told to jump on the organic bandwagon, they will obey. If they are told that Sandra Lee is a great chef, they'll believe it. Just tell them the flavor of the day, and they'll like it.
In general, serious food enthusiasts are not FN's target audience. Likewise, FN fans probably do not comprise a significant portion of the target audience of the Kellers or Adriàs of the world.
LoCo at 1:20PM on 12/17/08
Well said LoCo.
katarina_santiago at 2:36PM on 12/17/08
Ditto to what LoCo said also........
Pavlov at 9:31AM on 12/25/08
LoCo summed it up nicely. I'm on the fence with endorsements. They are tv personalities and that's how tv personalities make money, endorsing things and putting on tv shows.
I think the difference comes in protecting their "brand". Alton came close, but he was selective (I cringe every time I see the add tho). Tyler and Applebee's? Made me think less of his cred as a chef. When I see Guy pushing TGIF's it reinforces the idea that I wouldn't ever want to eat there anyway and Ray Ray will shill anything from flatwear to Triskets and dogfood, do we really care what she has to tell us when she's telling us she can be bought by anybody for anything? With any industry, when the brand isn't protected it loses its strength, and I think so will Rachel and Guy and all the others who don't make selective choices.
Much to my surprise, I did notice the other day in a much older Good Eats that AB was in a supermarket and picked up a can of Welch's Grape and rather conspicuously waved it around while talking, so that relationship may have been there for a long time.
spiceweasel at 3:24PM on 04/14/09
I miss the Two Fat Ladies...
HunterAnglerGardenerCook at 8:58PM on 04/14/09
LoCo is dead on.
I am also in total agreement with @chiff. If they're gonna flog stuff, it should at least be really, really good stuff. Putting one's name to Applebee's makes you dead to me. At least Welch's grape juice is actual juice, but dude, why not Penzy's? Yeah, they don't have a spokesperson, but I'll bet good money that had AB approached them, they'd have genuflected on the spot.
And I say, Bring Back Sara Moulton. I really miss her...
chisai at 9:35PM on 04/14/09