Hi Chef Sylvia,
There are so many celebrity chefs cooking on TV and, well, some not so famous. Do you think the influx of celebrity chefs have been a good thing for the industry or negative? If you could just choose one celebrity chef to watch, who would you choose? Hope you will answer both questions!
Thanks,
Jack
New York City
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Great question! There are 2 ways in which to answer.
The Pros: It is great that the profession is acknowledged by the masses through the medium of entertainment.
The Negatives: Gives a false sense of what the profession is really about and tends towards a glamorous feel, when it is really a lot of hard work and long hours.
I base my watching criteria on 2 things.
1) Education – how much I actually learn from the show in terms of the origin of the food without being well-rehearsed, discusses & demonstrates techniques, innovative ideas, cool secret ingredients & creativity
2) Personality – how entertaining and captivating is the host, without distracting from the food
and if I can go the entire show without uttering a negative comment to myself
With that being said
I LOVE watching Jacques Pepin prepare food. There is little editing and the actual time to make the dish is the actual time on TV. He does all the prep work without any assistance and shows a broad range of knife skills and techniques. And, all the while, he is immensely entertaining. Hes the real deal, a superbly trained chef who can make the simplest food elegant. They dont make people like him anymore. I could go on and on.
http://blogs.kqed.org/essentialpepin/
Keeping it Fresh!
Chef Edward Sylvia
