A truly delicious meal can turn even an awful day into an exciting one. The world's passion for good food has never been more visible than it is in recent times. Thanks to the many cookbooks, cooking TV shows, and culinary sites available people can easily learn how to prepare fresh meals.
Behind the rush, in food-related entertainment, there are a handful of celebrity chefs that add colour and know-how to the dinner table. This article has explored a list of the best 15 celebrity chefs in the world.
Wolfgang Puck
Born 8 July 1949, Wolfgang Puck is an Austrian-American restaurateur, chef, and actor. He has over 30 restaurants under his belt. This celebrity chef is recognized for preparing modern French meals in American kitchens.
Wolfgang Puck took care of the meals served in the marriage ceremony of Kim Kardashian and Chris Humphries in 2011. He is also one of the regular guest judges of MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen. Wolfgang Puck is one of those few celebrity chefs who are good in every area of culinary arts.
Jamie Oliver
Born 27 May 1975, Jamie Oliver is a British restaurateur and chef. He is known for creating delicious and easy-to-prepare recipes. Jamie has authored over 25 cookbooks, and he also had more than 34 of his TV shows.
In addition, Jamie is a proactive campaigner for less privileged youths. In 2010, Jamie Oliver cookbook titled '30 Minutes Meal' sold more than 735,000 copies in just 10 weeks. These rapid sales made the book Britain's fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time.
Nigella Lawson
Born 6 January 1960, Nigella Lawson is one of the amazing celebrity chefs that the world has ever seen. She has appeared on a lot of television cooking channels including Cooking Channel, Style Network, and E. Nigella has also published more than seven cooking-focused books.
These books sold over six million copies all over the world. Nigella Lawson is even more admired because she has never been to culinary school. She attended the University of Oxford, where she studied medieval and modern languages.
After her college education, she started in journalism. Her position at British Vogue as a food editor introduced her to the world as a foodie and author.
Marco Pierre White
The next amazing personality on this list of the world's best celebrity chefs is Marco Pierre White. He is also a television personality and restaurateur from Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Marco was the first chef to be called a Celebrity Chef. He is also the first British chef and the youngest chef to receive three Michelin stars.
Marco was first tutored by Pierre Koffman of La Tante Claire. After his training, he started working in the kitchen of Raymond Blanc. After working in the kitchen for a while, he moved to work with chef Nico Ladenis.
While working with chef Nico, he branched out on his own. But before branching out on his own, the chef already had several awards to his name. Marco Pierre White did not just have a successful cooking career, he also trained other world-class celebrity chefs such as Mario Batali. In general, Marco Pierre White is one of the globally admired celebrity chefs.
Gordon Ramsay
Born on 8 November 1966, Gordon Ramsay is yet another successful celebrity chef. He was born in Scotland, but he grew up in England. Gordon owns several successful eateries in many countries across the globe.
A few of the eateries include Boxwood Café, Petrus, and the aptly named Gordon Ramsay. Because of Gordon Ramsay's excellent cooking skills, the celebrity chef has worked as the host of the popular TV show Hell's Kitchen and the U.K.'s Kitchen Nightmares. In addition, he is also the host and executive producer of MasterChef.
However, if you wish to see actual proof of Gordon Ramsay's celebrity status, then you should check out the 2011 episode of The Simpsons titled The Food Wife. In this episode, he showed up in an animated form of himself.
Bobby Flay
Born on 10 December 1964, Bobby Flay is one of the greatest celebrity chefs that the world has ever known. His television journey is both impressive and storied.
Bobby Flay started his career in 1994 on Food Network. He is currently well-known for his appearance on Iron Chef America. This is a well-known cooking competition TV show. Furthermore, he is also well recognized for being the television host of The Next Food Network Star.
Bobby Flay is known for running luxurious restaurants such as New York City's Mesa Grill. At a point in his career, Bobby moved into the more cost-effective culinary sector, where he established a well-known chain of burger joints.
One of his chains of burger places includes Bobby's Burger Palace, which has the tagline “Who says good cooking has to come with a hefty price tag?” In Bobby Flay's burger place, you will find sweet potato fries, onion rings, and a Crunch burger topped with pickles and potato chips.
Tom Colicchio
Born on 15 August 1962, Tom Colicchio is one of the most popular celebrity chefs in the world. Over the years, he has been a fixture in the restaurant landscape. Tom Colicchio was initially known for his position as host of Bravo's Top Chef.
However, he took his position as a restaurateur in 1994 when he launched the well-known 'Gramercy Tavern' in New York City. After the launch of his first restaurant, he went on to build several other Craft Restaurants. Tom Colicchio's restaurants now have several outposts across New York City.
This celebrity chef has a low drama demeanour and no-nonsense personality. And this personality translates pretty well into his cooking style.
All Colicchio Craft restaurants' recipes focus on one ingredient that is simply made and served in a family-like style. Tom Colicchio pays more attention to cooking craft rather than the art form of it.
He believes that pepper and salt are the most undermined seasoning mixtures. Furthermore, he insists on roasting meat instead of grilling it. Also, Tom enjoys listening to reggae music while cooking up his food.
Paula Deen
Born 19 January 1947, Deen is a popular female celebrity chef with a robust personality. In a cooking industry that is dominated by men, she fought her way through to stand out as one of the world's popular female celebrity chefs.
Paula started a catering brand called 'The Bag Lady', where she prepares packed lunches for small businesses. And her sons were the food delivery guys. The Bag Lady in 1996 gave birth to The Lady and Sons Restaurant in Savannah, Ga.
With her strong southern drawl and robust personality, Paula Deen has emerged as a standout female celebrity chef in an industry largely dominated by men. But she had to earn her success.
Paula Deen has been featured severally on Oprah episodes about women who started and grew their businesses from home. However, what brought her to the spotlight was when QVC sold more than 60,000 of her cookbooks in a single day.
In addition, Paula Deen's famous Food Network television cooking show helped to further strengthen her celebrity chef status. This is simply because she shares stories about her thrilling life for her different dishes. Besides her fascinating TV cook shows and restaurants, her portfolio also has a line of baking combinations and a magazine in it.
In 2005, the celebrity chef finally made her first film acting appearance in Cameron Crowe's titled Elizabethtown. All her great cooking achievements in the industry placed her among the world's renowned celebrity chefs.
Mario Batali
Born on 19 September 1960, Mario Batali is among the world-known celebrity chefs. He is known for his delicious Italian dishes and great television persona. But Mario Batali never had the intention of being a chef.
He graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Spanish theatre and business management. After school, his goal was to move to Spain and find a banking job. But he landed a dishwasher job at the New Jersey restaurant called “Stuff Yer Face”.
But he quickly moved to the position of pizza maker. It was within this period that Mario Batali discovered his talent in the food industry.
After Mario Batali's days in Cordon Bleu in London, he devoted three good years to cooking in one of those towns in Italy. It was within these three years that he found his craving and love for Italian dishes.
Mario Batali has also built a cooking format that extracts Italian recipes' spirit and adds them to any seasonal ingredients that can be found locally in other cities and countries.
The success recorded by his 'Greenwich Village Flagship Restaurant has landed him a lot of television appearances. It has also led to several cookbook publications, restaurant ventures, and a line of cookware.
Emeril Lagasse
Born on 15 October, Emeril Lagasse is yet another celebrity chef that you should know. He is a qualified mega-star. Emeril has a personal-titled kingdom that houses several restaurants, a charity foundation, television shows, and cookbooks.
This celebrity chef's properly established empire is estimated to be worth over $65 million. He was able to achieve all of that through tenacity and handwork.
Emeril worked in a Portuguese bakery in his hometown when he was a teenager. It was in this Portuguese bakery that he learnt how to bake bread and pastries. Emeril Lagasse later enrolled in Johnson & Wales University culinary program.
He was given a job to handle the role of an executive chef at the 'Commander's Palace Restaurant' in 1990. He was just 23 years old when he landed this job. In 1990, he opted for his cooking game by launching his first restaurant called Emeril's Restaurant.
And in 1992 opened several other restaurants. He made his first Network appearance Essence of Emeril. The pay for this network debut was pretty low. It was just $50 for an episode.
Emeril Lagasse's other TV show is currently in syndication. The success that the two TV shows recorded put Emeril Lagasse food network on the mainstream. It also made Lagasse a household name. His fans have always testified that Lagasse offers a lot of goodies for every single buck they spend.
Charles David Ayers
Charles David Ayers is yet one of the world's top celebrity chefs. He is globally recognized for his position as the Google Mountain View, California headquarters executive chef.
He started his cooking professional career by working for Hilton Hotels. After working for a while, he enrolled in culinary school. He worked for a few restaurants in Boston immediately after he graduated from culinary school.
After those few jobs, he finally moved to California. In 2009, Charles David branched out and established Calafia Café.
Vikram Vij
Vikram Vij is yet a popular celebrity chef, cookbook author, television personality, and businessman. This celebrity chef and his former wife co-founded 'Vij’s Restaurant and Rangoli Restaurant'.
This restaurant is in Vancouver, British Columbia. Vij became Dragon's Den Investor, a Canadian reality television show after his successful culinary career.
In addition, he has also co-published two best-selling cookbooks. These brilliant achievements made him one of the world's leading celebrity chefs.
José Andréas
Born on 13 July 1969, Andréas is a Spanish-American celebrity chef. Jose is the owner of (WCK) World Central Kitchen. He also owns a couple of other restaurants in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, South Beach, and Florida.
José Andréas started his cooking career by enrolling in Catalan culinary school to learn the trade. After he finished his military service, he officially started his career by working with chef Ferran Adrià.
José Andréas stayed with chef Ferran Adrià for three years before he finally moved to America. And his career took off completely in America. José Andréas has been given several awards for his culinary knowledge. A few of those awards include:
- Two Michelin Stars.
- National Humanities Medal.
- And countless industry awards
Ina Garten
The next celebrity chef on this list of the world's leading celebrity chefs is Ina Garten. She is not just a chef, she is also an author and the host of 'Barefoot Contessa, a food network TV show. Ina Garten had no formal cooking training.
But not having formal training for this career didn't stop her from having a successful career. In fact, even with no cooking formal education, she was able to amass a $50 million fortune from the cooking industry.
Ina Garten started her cooking career by reading cookbooks from Time-Life. After reading several of the cookbooks, she started practising how to make most of the dishes in the cookbook. She asked for feedback from friends and families after making most of the dishes.
This feedback and criticism helped her to figure out areas that need improvement. It was after she had developed the cooking skills that she launched her 'gourmet food store', Barefoot Contessa TV show, and authored many cookbooks.
With all her achievements in her cooking journey, she was able to accumulate a net of over $50 million. Even with no formal cooking education, she had a fulfilling cooking career.
David Chang
David Chang is among the top 10 richest celebrity chefs in the world. He is an American television personality, restaurateur, and author. David Chang established the Momofuku Restaurant Group. This group includes:
- Momofuku Ko
- Mail Bar
- Momofuku Noodle Bar
- Momofuku Ssäm Bar
- And several others.
In 2009, David Chang's restaurant received two Michelin stars. Chang also created and produced 'Ugly Delicious', a Netflix original series. In addition, he has received a lot of cooking industry awards throughout his career. And he accumulated a net worth of around $60 million.
Rachael Ray
The next female celebrity chef is Rachael Ray. She is an American celebrity chef, television personality, author, and businesswoman. Rachael Ray is known globally for her fast and straightforward cooking format.
Her quick cooking method helps individuals to make tasty and healthy recipes within 25 minutes or fewer. She started her cooking career at 'Macy’s Marketplace'. After which, she moved to 'Agata & Valentina', a specialty food store. Rachael Ray later ran a pub and also became a buyer at 'Cowan & Lobel'.
Furthermore, she started to teach how to make tasty 30 minutes of meals. Rachael Ray's cooking courses helped introduce her to the TV industry. And it didn't take time before she became one of the top celebrity chefs across the globe.
Rachael Ray currently hosts a lifestyle program and daily talks. In general, Rachael Ray had a successful cooking career. And she inspired many people, which placed her among their favourite celebrity chefs.
