Awesome Unique Celebrity Chefs in the World

A chef is a highly skilled professional cook who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation and sometimes table settings. The chef term is derived and shortened from the term chef de cuisine. Chef is often used to refer to any professional cook, regardless of rank, though in most classically defined kitchens, it usually refers to the head chef, in North American manner of speech chef are addressed as cooks. Today, there are famous reality show about Chefs, such as Iron Chef, Master Chef, Hells Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmare and a lot more, were most of the chefs behavior are weird, unique, awesome and creative chefs from different countries. Here are some list of awesome and unique chefs. A person who studied Culinary arts are known as culinarian, working in restaurants, commonly called cook or chef. A culinarian or culinary artists are responsible for preparing meals skilfully and creatively that are as pleasing to the palate to taste, and to the eye.

1)  Cat Cora

Catherine Ann “Cat” Cora is an American professional celebrity chef known for her role featured on the Food Network television show Iron Chef America as an Iron Chef and the television series reality competition as Bravo’s Around the World in 80 Plates’ co-host, along professional celebrity chef, Curtis Stone, following competing 12 chefs in a culinary competition across 10 countries in 44 days. In February 2013, Cat Cora opened The Ocean Restaurant at the S.E.A. Aquarium at Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa. Cat Cora’s style of cooking was influenced by Alma, her grandmother, famous celebrity professional chefs Julia Child (1912-2004),(American chef, author, and television personality who introduced French cuisine in America), Barbara Tropp (1941-2004),( American chef and author, who helped introduce Americans to Chinese cuisine) and M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992) American author. Cat Cora is openly a lesbian, and has four sons with her wife, Jennifer. Her wife Jennifer gave birth of their three sons, Zoran, Caje and Thatcher, while Cat Cora gave birth to Nash three months after Jennifer gave birth to Thatcher. Cat Cora currently resides with her family in Santa Clara, California.

 Curtis Stone

Curtis Stone is an Australian celebrity chef, author and television personality, and following his role on The Celebrity Apprentice 3 he was nicknamed by fans as The Quiet Terminator. At the age of four, Curtis Stone began cooking with his grandmother, and debuted cooking as his career at age 18 at the Savoy Hotel, Australia. Stone began cooking in London under the British celebrity chef, television personality and restaurateur Marco Pierre White at the Café Royal and Mirabelle after the completion of his qualifications as chef. Stone continued to become the White’s Quo Vadis head chef where he worked with James Robertson who later owned the  London Steakhouse Company with Chef Marco Pierre Whited. Curtis Stone returned to Australia shortly, to make the ABC TV Surfing the Menu, a traveling cooking show along with Australian celebrity Chef Ben O’Donoghue. Curtis Stone hosted on TLC in the United States Take Home Chef, which went on to become an international hit for The Learning Channel (TLC), an American basic cable and satellite television network owned by Discovery Communications in May 2006. Stone became host of the Bravo’s Top Chef Masters third season in 2011, to replace Korean American TV host, Kelly Choi. Bravo announced Curtis Stone would co-host a new culinary reality show called Around the World in 80 Plates alongside celebrity chef Cat Cora in January 2012. Stone appeared in MasterChef Australia All-Stars episode in August 2012. In the later part of 2009, Stone began dating American actress Lindsay Price, together they have one son, Hudson, born on November 6, 2011. In July 2012, thcouple was engaged and married on June 8, 2013 in Spain. Lindsay Price guest starred for  two episodes of NCIS  as a neurotic girlfriend of Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS main character, played by actor Michael Weatherly.

2) Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver MBE, born James Trevor “Jamie” Oliver in May 27, 1975, aka The Naked Chef, is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, media personality, known for his television cooking shows, cookbooks and his campaign recently, against the use of processed foods in national schools, and aimed to improve unhealthy and poor cooking habits and diets in the United Kingdom and the United States. Jamie Oliver’s style of cooking is Italian cuisine. Oliver’s first job was at Neal’s Yard Restaurant owned Chef Antonio Carluccio as a pastry chef, where he first gained experience with preparing Italian cuisine, and became very close with Chef Gennaro Contaldo, his mentor. Jamie Oliver soon moved to The River Café in Fulham, London as a sous chef, and from there the BBC noticed him afte an appearance which was unscripted in a documentary about the restaurant, Christmas at the River Cafe in 1997. That year, Jamie Oliver debuted his first show The Naked Chef and his cookbook became a number one best-seller in the United Kingdom. Jamie Oliver’s cooking career became critical for commenting about other chefs and has spoken out against Chef Marco Pierre White, and the Gordon Ramsay‘s notorious swearing. Jamie Oliver is the second British celebrity chef next to British chef Robert Irvine, to appear as a challenger on Iron Chef America, in 2008, against Iron chef Mario Batali in a losing battle with cobia also known as black salmon as the theme ingredient.  In July 2000, Oliver married former model Juliette Norton in July 2000, whom Oliver met in 1993. The couple have four children, Poppy Honey Rosie Oliver, born March 18, 2002, Daisy Boo Pamela Oliver born on April 10, 2003, Petal Blossom Rainbow Oliver born on April 3, 2009 and Buddy Bear Maurice Oliver born on September 15, 2010. Oliver with his family currently lives in Clavering, Essex. Jamie Oliver is suffering from dyslexia, and read his first novel in 2013, Catching Fire, at age 38. Dyslexia is a disorder of difficulty with learning to read fluently, learning disability  or developmental reading disorder (DRD)  despite normal intelligence.

3)  Gennaro Contaldo

Gennaro Contaldo co-owner and executive chef of Passione Restaurant (now closed)in London, born January 21, 1949 in Minori, Amalfi Coast, Italy. Gennaro Contaldo grew up on the Amalfi Coast in the small village of Minori, developing his love for food since he went with his father and grandfather from hunting, and collecting herbs for his mother. At the age of eight, Contaldo began working in local restaurants. in 1969, Contaldo left Italy and went to London, and married in 1974 and had three children. Gennaro  Contaldo published his first cookbook, in April 2003, Passione, which is dedicated to the style of cooking of Amalfi village, followed by his second cookbook, Gennaro’s Italian Year, published in September 2006, and in September 2008, his third book was published, the Gennaro’s Italian Home Cooking, in March 2010, and his fourth book Genarro’s Easy Italian, was published. Gennaro Contaldo toured the Italian regions alongside Antonio Carluccio in 2011 for BBC’s 4-part series The Two Greedy Italians, followed by a second series which aired in 2012, entitled, The Two Greedy Italians: Still Hungry. Contaldo is best known for his association with Jamie Oliver, his protégé, whom he first mentored in the late 1990s at Neal Street Restaurant. The two chefs, Contaldo and Oliver, have since maintained a close friendship and professional relationship as chef. Jamie Oliver even once put up a reward for information when Passione Restaurant, Contaldo’s restaurant, was robbed in 2003. Gennaro Contaldp, set a record for making a 3-egg Omelette for 16.36 seconds records on Saturday Kitchen morning show in BBC1.

Antonio Carluccio,

Antonio Carluccio, Order of the British Empire (OBE)  Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI), is an Italian Chef, restaurateur and food expert, born April 19, 1937, in Vietri sul Mare, Salerno, Italy, based in London. Carluccio as a child, commonly hunt for different mushrooms and fungi through the forest with his father. In 1981, Antonio Carluccio became the manager of Neal Street Restaurant  Terence Conran in Convent Garden, and in 1989, he became the owner of the restaurant. Jamie Oliver, the British celebrity chef began his career as chef at the Neal Street Restaurant under Carluccio, which closed in 2006. Antonio Carluccio travels around Italy in 2011, with Gennaro Contaldo for the filming of BBC series Two Greedy Italians. It was reported that Antonio Carluccio had stabbed himself in the chest on September 7, 2008, with his attending Doctors feared that the blade may have punctured his lung. Carluccio was rushed to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, was later discharged. After the incident, Carluccio admitted himself to The Priory clinic, and it was reported that he was suffering from depression, exhaustion and that the incident was an accident, which his close friend and fellow chef Gennaro Contaldo confirmed. In a March 2009 interview, Carluccio revealed that although he was feeling very depressed and desperate during the time of the stabbing incident, that it was an accident that happened while cutting bread loaf. Carluccio noted, that the incident was a positive experience and he realized his compassion to other patients he saw during his stay in Priory Clinic, that his problem is so pale compared to other people’s problem. Antonio Carluccio and his then wife opened an Italian food shop, in 1991, named Carluccio’s. They expanded the food shop in 1994 to a wholesaler business. Antonio Carluccio’s operates from over 70 company in many United Kingdom locations currently with franchises over two territories, the first over Dublin, Ireland, with presently one location open, the second over 6 countries in the Middle East including three locations in Dubai, presently open.

4)  Elena Arzak

Elena Arzak is a Spanish chef born July 4, 1969,  joined as head chef of Arzak Restaurant, a three Michelin starred restaurant with her father Chef Juan Mari Arzak, and Elena Arzak was named best Female Chef in the World. Elena Arzak first started working at the age of 11 at Arzak her family’s restaurant, and was the fourth generation of her family to work in Arzak. Her father chef Juan Mari Arzak, initially worked under his mother, who at that time was the head chef at the restaurant, become the head chef himself later. Elena Arzak’s, cooking style and specialty on Basque cuisine, the cuisine of the Basque people, includes meats and grilled fish over hot coals, marmitako (fish stew) and lamb stews, cod, Tolosa bean dishes, paprikas from Lekeitio, pintxos or pinchos a skewed Basque tapas (Spanish cuisine appetizers), Idiazabal sheep’s cheese, txacoli sparkling wine, and Basque cider or sagardotegi. A basquaise is a kind of dish prepared in the style of Basque cuisine usually added with tomatoes and sweet or hot red peppers. The Basque chefs were influenced by the nouvelle cuisine of France during the 1970s and 1980s and created the nouvelle cuisine basque, original in its form but solidly Basque in substance, with lighter and less country side versions of traditional dishes and flavors. Chef Juan Mari Arzakin Donostia became the most famous advocates and one of first three-star Michelin Guide restaurants in Spain. Elena Arzak can speak four languages that includes German language, she has two children, Nora and Mateo.

5) Mario Batali

Mario Batali  is an American celebrity  chef, author, restaurateur, and media personality known as Molto Mario, born September 19, 1960. Mario Batali is an expert on the Italian cuisine history and culture,aside from a classical culinary training, including regional and local variations cooking. Batali is the co-owner of various restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong and Westport, Connecticut. Mario Batali’s weird signature style in clothing, wearing shorts and orange Crocs. Mario and his wife Susi Cahn of Coach Dairy products,  currently lives in New York City with two sons, Leo and Benno. Batali  also owns homes in Northport, Michigan and Red Hook, New York. Mario Batali has been critical of Gordon Ramsay, fellow international celebrity chef, calling his cooking styles dated and boring.  In 2009, the New York Post reported, of a feud between Ramsay and Mario Batali has stated, “We really don’t even know each other (referring to Gordon Ramsay).. I’d love to hang out with him.

6) Rick Bayless

Rick Bayless is an American chef who specializes with his cooking style in traditional Mexican cuisine with modern interpretations, and best known for his Mexico: One Plate at a Time series a PBS television show. Bayless was born into a restaurateurs and grocers family in Oklahoma City, specializing in the local barbecue. Rick Bayless is the younger brother of Skip Bayless, sports journalist and ESPN television personality. Rick Bayless is residing in Mexico with his wife, Deann, from 1980 to 1986, writing his first book Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking From The Heart of Mexico. Bayless competed on the first broadcast season 1 episode of Iron Chef America in 2005, and lost to Iron Chef Bobby Flay, by one point, using American bison as the secret ingredients. Rick Bayless also appeared in episode 3 of Season 4 Top Chef as a guest judge, judging both the quickfire and elimination challenges. Bayless joined episode 3 Top Chef Masters first season as a contestant, winning that episode and advancing to the Champion’s round, where he won the title of Top Chef Master on August 19, 2009.

7)  Gordon Ramsay

Gordon James Ramsay is a Scottish celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality, and has been awarded total of 15 Michelin Stars and currently holds 14 awards Michelin stars for excellence. Gordon Ramsay is best known for TV shows about competitive cookery and food, such as the British series Hell’s Kitchen ( a cookery reality show featuring competing chefs), The F Word (featuring food magazine and cookery programcovering wide range of topics from recipes, food preparation and celebrity food fads) Ramsay’s Best Restaurant (restaurants from all over Britain competing in order to win the title, Ramsay’s Best Restaurant), Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (Ramsay visits a failing restaurant and help improve the restaurant in just a week as a troubleshooter, and revisits the restaurant a few months later to see how business has fared during Ramsay’s absence), Gordon’s Great Escape (Ramsay’s first visit to India, exploring the country’s culinary tradition, and the culinary traditions of Southeast Asia, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam), Gordon Behind Bars (British television series featuring Gordon Ramsay teaching Brixton prison inmates how to cook), Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live, and Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course, along with the Hell’s Kitchen American versions, Kitchen Nightmares, Master Chef and Hotel Hell. Ramsay has a net worth of £76,000,000. Ramsay worked as a commis chef (basic chef in larger kitchens who works under a chef de partie to learn the station’s responsibilities and operation) at the Wroxton House Hotel in early 1980s, then managed the kitchen and 60-seat dining room at the Wickham Arms, until he was involved in sexual relationship with the owner’s wife that made the situation difficult. Ramsay studied French cuisine, after working at Harveys for two years and ten months. In 1996, Gordon Ramsay married Cayetana “Tana” Elizabeth Hutcheson, a Montessori school teacher. The couple have four children and the family resides at Battersea. Ramsay opened his own restaurant in 1998, the Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, with the help of his father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, who was responsible for the business operations of Ramsay’s restaurant empire until 2010. Gordon Ramsay was photographed with a puffy face and wearing on his head a medical-looking cap, and rumors began to spread that he had undergone a surgical enhancement procedure. But Ramsay explained that his swollen face and scalp was due to an allergic reaction and infections. However, it was revealed later, that chef Ramsay had undergone a follicular unit extraction (FUE) (known as follicular transfer for hair transplant procedure) for £30,000.

 Joe Bastianich, Celebrity Master Chef

Joseph “Joe” Bastianich is a restaurateur and vineyard owner, judge on the competitive shows MasterChef and MasterChef Italia and soon will be a judge for the upcoming show, Junior MasterChef. Joe Bastianich was born on September 17, 1968, to parents Felice and Lidia Bastianich. Felice and Lidia Bastianich divorced in 1997, after 31 years of marriage. His father Felice Bastianich resigned from the family business, the Felidia Restaurant and transferred his share in the partnership to their two children, Joseph and Tanya. Soon Joe Bastianich joined his parents’ restaurant business, in 1993, he convinced his parents to put up the capital and partnership with him to open Becco Restaurant (Italian for “peck, nibble, savor”) in the Theater District, Manhattan. Similar to Felidia, Becco restaurant was successful. Joe teamed up with chef Mario Batali, the following year, to open Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, which earned three stars from The New York Times. Soon, Bastianich and Batali opened Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza, which were later copied at the Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands and the B&B Ristorante, Enoteca San Marco and Carnevino in Las Vegas. Bastianich and Mario Batali, his business partner were sued for skimming tips (act of removing or stealing) from his restaurant staff in March 2012, where the said suit was settled for over $5 million. Joe Bastianich with wife and three children, Olivia, Miles and Ethan currently lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. Joe Bastianich, was suffering from various health problem due to being overweight, and started running, participated in several marathons and triathlons, and lost weight by 45 lb (20 kg).

Graham Elliot, Master Chef

Graham Elliot Bowles known professionally as Graham Elliot is a celebrity chef based in Chicago, Illinois, born January 4, 1977 in Seattle, Washington, as a self-described Navy brat (or military brat referring to children with parents serving full time in the military). At the age of 18, Graham Elliot dropped out from high school and worked odd jobs, as a dishwasher and bus boy in  food business establishment. Elliot attended culinary school at Johnson & Wales University. Elliot and his wife, Allie, have two sons together, Conrad and Jedediah, Mylo, Elliot’s son from a previous marriage. After his culinary school, Elliot’s first position was under Chef Dean Fearing at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, a five diamond/five-star property in Dallas,Texas. Elliot faced off against Iron Chef Bobby Flay in 2007, on the Iron Chef America TV show, with chocolate as the secret ingredient. Elliot almost lost to Flay by a narrow total score of 49-47. In 2009, He appeared on the Top Chef Masters TV show in 2009, where he cooked for The Heart and Stroke Foundation due to his nephew needing a heart transplant. Elliot became a judge in 2010 on the reality show Master Chef a U.S. version, along with Gordon Ramsay and Joe Bastianich. He also opened Grahamwich, his second Chicago restaurant. Elliot will judge the cooking competition television series Junior MasterChef  which premiered September 27, 2013 along Chef Gordon Ramsay and  Chef Joe Bastianich.

8) Vikas Khanna

Vikas Khanna an Indian chef, restaurateur, filmmaker, humanitarian, host of TV show MasterChef India season 2 and MasterChef India season 3, and an award winning Michelin chef. Khanna host MasterChef India alongside judges, Chef Ajay Chopra, and Chef Kunal Kapur. Chef Khanna is based in New York City. The People magazine named Khanna as the Sexiest Man Alive in the list in 2011, and referred to as The Hottest Chef of America. Chef Vikas Khanna was born November 14, 1971, in Amritsar,India to Davinder and Bindu Khanna, the second child with an older brother and a younger sister, a fashion entrepreneur, who also resides in Manhattan. At a young age, Khanna learned cooking and began developing recipes and at age 17, he opened Lawrence Gardens Banquets to host weddings and family functions. Vikas Khanna established cultural festival gala, to bring together various traditional Indian cuisine and traditions from different parts of India he named SAANCH. This cultural gala festival has been an important event in the college’s calendar. Khanna has worked for the Taj group of hotels, Oberoi Sheraton, Welcomegroup, and Leela Group of Hotels and with Gordon Ramsay, Bobby Flay, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who were considered as one of the most influential chefs of the world. Vikas Khanna was born with misaligned legs and feet and was not able to walk or run normally until he was age 13. Khanna’s cooking interest was inspired by his grandmother who loved cooking and her kitchen became Khanna’s training ground. Khanna is not yet married, although in an interview with Hindustan Times he said that he looks forward to having a family one day, but nothing as of now. Vikas cooked for a fundraiser hosted for President Obama at the New York’s Rubin Museum of Art on May 14, 2012.

Kunal Kapur

Kunal Kapur was born in New Delhi, India, is an Indian celebrity chef and restaurateur best known as the Season 1, 2 and 3  MasterChef India  host and judge of the TV series on Star Plus (a general entertainment show in Hindi language). Kapur’s cooking style is Indian cuisine, and presently the Leela Kempinski’s executive sous chef in Gurgaon. Kunal Kapur opened a restaurant which has achieved the Best Restaurant Award. In January 2008, Kunal Kapur was rated as one of the Delhi’s Best Indian chefs according to India Today and was also named as the next India’s big guy in kebabs and curries. Kunal has made television appearances both in India’s national and international. Kunal Kapur hosted and judged the popular India’s Star Plus television show,MasterChef India season 1 and 2 and 3 ten reality shows. Kapur became a guest judge when he was invited on one of the episodes of MasterChef USA Season 2 as well as a guest appearance in one of the episodes of India’s Star Plus Television show of  Chef Pankaj Ka Zaykaon.

9) Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Michael Bourdain is an American celebrity chef , author and television personality, born June 25, 1956, best known for his Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly 2000 book, and hosted the Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and The Layover culinary and cultural programs of Travel Channel since 2005. . In 2013, Anthony Bourdain hosted Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown in 2013 and joined CNN. Anthony Bourdain graduated in Culinary Institute of America in 1978 and a veteran of various professional kitchens. Anthony Bourdain was the executive chef for Brasserie Les Halles, French bistro steakhouse restaurant in New york for many years, however, he still maintains his relationship with the restaurant, though he  is no longer employed as a chef formally. Les Halles restaurant, described Bourdain as their chef-at-large. In his television show, No Reservations the network has placed discretion for viewer’s advisories in every segment of each episode due to Bourdain’s  use of profanity (bad language) words and sexual references. Bourdain is best known for consuming exotic local dishes, such as sheep testicles (lamb fries) in Morocco, ant eggs (Escamole delicacy) in Puebla, Mexico, a raw seal eyeball as part of an Inuit traditional seal hunt, and a beating heart, blood, bile and meat of a cobra whole in Vietnam,the unwashed warthog (wild pig) rectum in Namibia and the fermented shark (Hákarl or kæstur hákarl) in Iceland, which Bourdain claimed “the most worst meals of his life”. Anthony Bourdain, also claimed the most disgusting thing he has ever eaten is a Chicken McNugget,(small piece of processed chicken meat that is fried in batter and flash frozen) despite of eating odd dishes in different countries. Bourdain is best known for a heavy drinker and smoker, however, in 2007, he quit smoking cigarette because of the birth of his daughter. Bourdain also admitted he is also a former user of cocaine, heroin, and LSD, and this addiction led him to selling record collection on the street so he could raise money to purchase his needs in drugs, as written in his book, Kitchen Confidential. Bourdain is also noted for his humiliating remarks of other celebrity chefs, such as Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Guy Fieri, Sandra Lee and Rachel Ray, and appears to be irritated by the celebrity cooking industry with open commercialism and its lack of authentic culinary work. Bourdain praised chefs consistently he admires most, particularly Ferran Adrià , Juan Mari Arzak, Mario Batali, Fergus Henderson, Thomas Keller, Martin Picard, Eric Ripert and Marco Pierre White, as well as his former protegé and colleagues at Brasserie Les Halles. Bourdain has praised with high respect of the late Chef Julia Child, saying that she “influenced the way I grew up and my entire value system. Bourdain is married to Nancy Putkoski, his high-school girlfriend in the 1980s, and they lived together for two decades before divorcing, which Bourdain has cited the cause of separation of irrevocable changes that come from traveling widely. Anthony Bourdain married his second wife Ottavia Busia, on April 20, 2007, and together they have a daughter, Ariane Bourdain, born on April 9, 2007. Ottavia Busia-Bourdain has appeared in several episodes of No Reservations, the episode on Sardinia, Busia’s birthplace, and also the Tuscany episode, in which she plays a not-contented Italian diner,  the Rome episode, and the Naples episode.

10) Guy Fieri

Celebrity chef Guy Fieri born Guy Ferry, on January 22, 1968, is an American restaurateur, author, game show host and television personality working for Food Network, and a co-owner of five restaurants in California. The Food Network named Guy Fieri as the face of the network in 2010, and on this same year, the New York Times, reported that Guy Fieri, brought an element of disorderly, mass market culture to American food television, and that his prime time shows attract more male viewers than any other network. Fieri opened Johnny Garlic’s Pasta Grill restaurant in 1996, with Steve Gruber, his business partner and co-owner, in Santa Rosa, California. They then developed Tex Wasabi’s barbecue and sushi in Santa Rosa, followed in 2007, a branch restaurant in Sacramento, California’s Arden Arcade area, and in 2011, opened Johnny Garlic’s in Dublin, California. In 2012, Fieri, opened his first restaurant in New York City known as Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar, opened to harshly critical New York Times review in 2012. Fieri and chef Rachel Ray are the two captain teams in the Food Network reality show in January 2012′s Rachel vs. Guy: Celebrity Cokk-Off, and the second season was aired on Food Network on January 6, 2013.  Fieri currently resides with his wife, Lori and two sons, Hunter and Ryder in Northern California.

11)  Michael Symon

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Michael D. Symon born September 19, 1969, is a television personality, author and a James Beard Foundation Award winner American chef. Michael Symon appeared regularly on Food Network television shows such as Iron Chef America, Food Feuds and The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and appeared on the Cooking Channel’s  Cook Like an Iron Chef and ABC’s The Chew. Symon  has also made various contributions to popular magazines such as food magazine Bon Appétit, Esquire, Food Arts, Gourmet, Saveur and O, The Oprah Magazine. Michael Symon owned a number of restaurants in the Greater Cleveland, such as his first restaurants Lola, Lolita, and The B Spot, also owns Michael Symon’s Roast (also known as Roast) in Detroit, Michigan area. Symon describes his cooking style as centered on meat dishes. Michael and his then-fiancée Liz Shanahan, whom he married later on,opened Lola in Tremont, Cleveland in February 1997. Lola restaurant is named after his aunt, which this restaurant garnered reviews and was named in October 2000 issue of Gourmet magazine, as one of America’s Best Restaurants. Michael Symon has appeared on the 2005′s Iron Chef America, where he lost to secret ingredients in Battle Asparagus from Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Symon appeared in the episode of Cleveland, OH of the television series Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on August 27, 2007. Michael Symon was declared winner of the entire competition on November 11, 2007, after a head-to-head match against TV personality and celebrity Chef John Besh. Chef Michael Symon won his first battle on Iron Chef America on November 18, 2007. The Food Network announced on April 21, 2008, that Symon would take over as the 3rd most popular show Dinner: Impossible’s host, which he hosted for ten episodes, until celebrity chef host Robert Irvine, was put back as host. Michael Symon was aware that it was a temporary gig from the start although it was not announced in public. The Fat Doug hamburger was named top burger at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival of the Food Network, in 2010, and beat out chef Bobby Flay’s burger as the “best burger in America. The top burger, which is topped with pastrami (popular delicacy beef, mutton, pork meat), Swiss cheese (block of cheese riddled with holes called eyes) and coleslaw (salad consisting primarily of shredded raw cabbage, dressed with mayonnaise) on a brioche bun, is featured on The B Spot menu. In 2011 and 2012, Michael Symon also defeated Flay in the same burger contest. Symon is married to Liz Shanahan, who has also been a collaborator on his restaurants. Michael Symon has a stepson, Kyle, who was then two years old during the time Symon met Shanahan. On January 9, 2012, Symon announced on The Chew episode that he had been smoking for the past 2o years, and said, he is quitting the habit and will seek advice from Dr. Mehmet Oz, father of Symon’s co-host, Daphne Oz. 

12) Bobby Flay

Robert William “Bobby” Flay is an American reality television personality and celebrity chef, and a restaurateur. Bobby Flay is the owner and executive chef of numerous restaurants such as, Mesa Grill at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, New York, and the Bahamas located in The Cove at Atlantis Paradise Island, Bar Americain restaurant in New York and Uncasville, CT. as American Brasserie in Midtown Manhattan.  Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City and Bobby’s Burger Palace in ten locations. Flay received a culinary arts degree and was a member of the first graduating class of the 1984 French Culinary Institute, under legendary chef Ishaan Gupta. Flay started working as a sous-chef (the second-in-command and direct assistant of the Chef de Cuisine), quickly learning the culinary arts. Bobby Flay was given the position as executive chef at the Brighton Grill on Third Avenue, after a week when the executive chef was fired. Bobby Flay is an Iron Chef on the Iron Chef America television show. In 2000, During the show of the original Iron Chef held in New York show for a special battle, Flay challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto to battle rock crab. Flay stood on top of his cutting board and raised his arms in a premature victory gesture, after hours battle has ended. Chef Masaharu Morimoto felt that real chefs consider cutting boards and knives as sacred, and being offended by Flays showy premature victory gesture, Morimoto criticized his professionalism, saying that Flay was not a chef, however, Flay lose the battle. Flay challenged Chef Masaharu Morimoto to a rematch in Morimoto’s native country in Japan. During this competition after an hour, Flay threw his cutting board on the floor and stood on the counter yet again to raise the roof with the audience, and this time Bobby Flay won.  Flay and Morimoto, who both won Iron Chefs on Iron Chef America teamed despite of a heated past and won Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters Tag Team battle, defeating fellow Iron Chefs Mario Batali and Hiroyuki Sakai. Bobby Flay is married to Debra Ponzek, in 1991, another well-known chef in New York City, however in 1993, Flay and Ponzek divorced. In 1995, Flay married Kate Connelly, but the pair divorced according to some reports. On April 16, 1996, his daughter, Sophie, was born. On February 20, 2005, Bobby Flay married actress Stephanie March (known for her portrayal on the television series Law & Order: Special Unit Victim as Alexandra Cabot).

13)  Masaharu Morimoto

Masaharu Morimoto is a Japanese celebrity chef, known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese cooking show on television Iron Chef and its Iron Chef America spinoff, born May 26, 1955, in Hiroshima, Japan. Chef Morimoto is best known for his unique style of food presentation. Morimoto studied practical training in sushi and traditional Kaiseki cuisine (traditional multi-course Japanese dinner) in Hiroshima, Japan, and in 1980, he opened his own restaurant in Hiroshima city. Chef Morimoto sold his restaurant, in 1985, because of the influence in Western cooking style to travel around the United States. Morimoto’s frequent travels influenced his fusion style of cuisine (cuisine that combines elements of various culinary traditions). Masaharu Morimoto established himself in New York City and worked in some of Manhattan’s famous and class restaurants, including the dining area for Sony Corporation‘s executive staff and VIP visitors, the Sony Club, where chef Morimoto was executive chef and in Nobu, the exclusive Japanese restaurant, where he was head chef. Chef Morimoto started on the Iron Chef television show, while at Nobu. Morimoto left Nobu, finally opening his own Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia in 2001, after the weekly television show Iron Chef ended in 1999. Chef Morimoto added another Morimoto restaurant in Chelsea, New York City, in Mumbai and New Delhi, India he named Wasabi restaurant, and one Morimoto Restaurant in Boca Raton, Florida. Chef Masaharu Morimoto opened two additional Morimoto restaurants  in July 2010, he opened in Napa Valley area, in October 2010, Morimoto restaurant in Waikiki, Hawaii. Morimoto made his acting debut on the Hawaii Five-o episode entitled Ma Ke Kahakai as himself on April 11,2011. Chef Morimoto also appeared in the 2010′s Hell’s Kitchen season, teaching the contestants how to prepare and make sushi, which every contestants had to replicate his sushi dish. Iron Chef Morimoto was the Guest Judge in Season 8 of Top Chef, which each finalist had to make a Last Supper for one of the judges. Top Chef Finalist Antonia Lofaso prepared a traditional Japanese meal for Morimoto, consisting of miso soup and a sashimi bento. Chef Morimoto and in collaboration with Rogue Ales (American craft brewery founded in 1988 in Ashland, Oregon,  expanded into distilling as well, with micro distilleries in Newport and Portland) of Newport, Oregon, has also developed a line of specialty beers, with combined ingredients consisting of the Imperial Pilsner, Soba Ale, and Black Obi Soba Ale.

14) Andrew Zimmern

Andrew Zimmern is an American television personality and celebrity chef, food writer and teacher, co-creator, TV host and consulting producer of the Travel Channel series Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Bizarre FoodsAmerica and Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World. In 2010, Zimmern received the James Beard Foundation Award for his work on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Andrew Zimmern also hosts the show Dining with Death, a television show explaining how some foods could cause death. Ziimern started to have his formal culinary training at the age of 14, stated that he was involved to severe drug addiction and alcoholism and became homeless for about one year. During this critical period, Zimmern survived by stealing purses from cafes and selling the contents. Zimmern moved to Minnesota in 1992, where he checked into the Hazelden Treatment Center for drug and alcohol addiction treatment, where he served as a volunteer now. Andrew Zimmern gained praise and wide acclaim as the executive chef during his four and a half year tenure in Café Un Deux Trois in Minneapolis’s Foshay Tower. Andrew Zimmern and his wife, Rishia Haas-Zimmern with their son, Noah, resides in Edina, Minnesota. The Travel Channel’s pilot episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern was aired on November 1, 2006, an the show has been for 6 seasons and over 100 episodes with Andrew Zimmern visiting 32 countries and 14 states in the United States. In 2007, Andrew Zimmern guest-starred in a No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain episode in New York City. and Anthony Bourdain also appeared on Bizarre Foods. Andrew Zimmern also appeared in 2009 episode of Man v. Food with Adam Richman in Minneapolis where he introduced Adam Richman to lutefisk or lye fish (Nordic traditional dish made of aged stockfish or air-dried unsalted whitefish or dried salted whitefish (klippfisk) and lye fish). Bizarred Foods America debuts in January 2012, a Bizarre Food spinoff, which Zimmern concentrate more on local cuisines and way of living in various cities in the United States.

15) Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Johannes Puck is an Austrian celebrity chef, restaurateur, businessman and occasionally actor, born Wolfgang Johannes Topfschnig on July 8, 1949. Celebrity Wolfgang Puck owned Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks and licensed products are run by Wolfgang Puck Companies, with three divisions. Chef Wolfgang was born to Maria Topfschnig and his butcher father, who abandoned Maria before Wolfgang was born. Maria married Josef Puck, in 1956 who adopted Puck, which the marriage produced another son and two daughters. Puck learned cooking from his mother, who sometimes worked as a pastry chef. Puck’s favorite food is macaroons, and his signature dish is House Smoked Salmon Pizza. Wolfgang Puck is married to Gelila Assefa, a designer. Chef Wolfgang Puck was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame in 2013.  Chef Puck is considered as one of the pioneers of fusion cuisine.

16) Rachael Ray

Rachael Domenica Ray is an American celebrity chef, television personality, businesswoman, and author, best known as host of the Rachael Ray show which premiered on September 18, 2006, the popular daily talk and lifestyle program, and three Food Network series, the 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels and $40 a Day. Rachael Ray wrote cookbooks is based on the concept of the 30 Minute Meals, and launched a magazine in 2006, Every Day with Rachael Ray. On November 12, 2006, Rachael Ray and Mario Batali defeated the team of Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis on an Iron Chef America episode with secret ingredients are cranberries. Food Network debuted a Rachael Ray episode of its special Chefography series on March 18, 2007, on which Ray stated that Iron Chef America was the worst day of her life, admitting to being anxious about it for weeks before her appearance in the said show. Rachael Ray also revealed to commentator Alton Brown that she was a cook, not a chef. Rachael Ray married John Cusimano, an American lawyer and lead singer of the rock band The Cringe on September 24, 2005 in Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy. Ray owns homes in Lake Luzerne, New York and in Greenwich Village in Manhattan.

17) Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer, celebrity cook, journalist and broadcaster, daughter of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby and Vanessa Salmon, (1936–1985), whose family founded the Lyons Corner House chain (J. Lyons and Co. food and catering service), married to Lawson 1955–1980, with one son, Dominic and three daughters, Thomasina, Nigella and Horatia. Lawson began working as a book reviewer and restaurant critic, and in 1986, she became  The Sunday Times deputy literary editor, and started a career as a freelance journalist, writing for a various newspapers and magazines. Nigella Lawson published her first cook book, How to Eat, which sold 300,000 copies and became a best-seller in 1998. Nigella Lawson was romantically linked to Geoffrey Robertson QC  human rights lawyer until 1988, however he left Lawson for novelist Kathy Lette. In 1986, Lawson met John Diamond, a British journalist and broadcaster, when they were both writing for The Sunday Times. Lawson and Diamond  married in1992 in Venice, and together they have two children. In 1997, Diamond was diagnosed with throat cancer, and died in March 2001, at aged 47. Diamonds died while wife Nigella was filming Nigella Bites. Lawson explained, but she did suffer a bout of depression. After his death, Nigella Lawson kept all of the press clippings in a Morbidobox, and explained she was suffering from a bout of depression. Lawson met Charles Saatchi an art collector and ranking one of the wealthiest people in the UK, and both married in September 2003, having drawn disapproval from closed friends and relatives, when she lived with him nine months after Diamond’s death. Lawson had also come under criticism when it was rumored that she started her relationship with Saatchi before Diamond’s death. In June 2013, Photographs were published in June 2013, by the Sunday People newspaper, showing Saatchi grabbing Lawson’s neck during an argument dining at Scott’s, a London seafood restaurant, which Saatchi described the pictures as showing only a playful tiff, after a police investigation of the incident. Saatchi accepted a caution for assault, and it was reported that Nigella Lawson left their family home with her children, Cosima, Bruno, and Phoebe. Seven weeks after the incident, Saatchi and Lawson was granted decree nisi on 31 July 2013, ending their ten-year marriage, and reached a private financial settlement. As of 2007, Saatchi was worth £100 million, while Lawson was worth £15 million, which the £8 million is from book sales. In 2008, report from media stated o circulate, that Lawson had been quoted as saying her two children should not inherit any of the fortune, but she strongly denied these in a statement on her personal website. In 2003, Lawson declined an Order of the British Empire (OBE) from Queen Elizabeth II Queen in 2001 as revealed by leaked  Whitehall documents. And as the daughter of a life peer (are appointed members of the peerage), whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers, in UK nowadays life peerages, always of the rank of baron). Nigella Lawson is entitled to the courtesy title of The Hon or The Honorable, however, Lawson does not use this courtesy title.

18) Chef Susur Lee

Susur Lee is a celebrity chef, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was born in Hong Kong in 1958, the youngest of six children. In 1978 he immigrated to Canada, after serving his culinary apprenticeship at Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. Chef Susur Lee worked as executive chef in various restaurants in Canada. Lee Restaurant located ta 601 King St. West and Bent Restaurant located at located at 777 Dundas St. West is owned by Chef Lee currently, where he teamed up with two of his sons Levi and Kai Bent-Lee. Chef Lee’s selective style of cooking is described as fusion cuisine (cuisine that combines elements of different culinary traditions). In 2000, Susur Restaurant, was opened, the internationally acclaimed restaurant, which was personally designed with the help of his wife, Brenda Bent. Chef Lee’s first wife, Marilou Covey, died in 1983 in the Korean Air Flight 007 disaster). Chef Lee was the second Canadian chef to appear on the Iron Chef America of Food Network competing in a battle with Chef Bobby Flay, resulting in a tie. The first Canadian chef who appeared in Iron Chef America was chef Robert “Rob” Feenie. Chef Lee was a finalist in the second season Top Chef: Masters of the Bravo TV show, finishing in a tie for second behind winner Marcus Samuelsson. Chef Susur Lee is famous for his dish Singapore Slaw, his take on a Lo Hei salad, which is traditionally eaten during the Chinese New Year.

Chef Marcus Samuelsson

Marcus ‘Joar’ Samuelsson born Kassahun ‘Joar’ Tsegie, is an Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised celebrity chef and owner of New York City’s Red Rooster Harlem and three other restaurants. Samuelsson and his elder sister, Fantaye, was adopted by Ann Marie and Lennart Samuelsson, a homemaker and a geologist, after their mother died in a tuberculosis epidemic when Kassahun or Marcus was three years old, who lived in Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden. The siblings’ names were changed from Kassahun to Marcus and from Fantaye to Linda Samuelsson. Marcus and Linda also have an adopted sister, Anna Samuelsson. Samuelsson’s biological father, Tsegie, is an Ethiopian priest of the Orthodox Church and Samuelsson has other eight half-siblings with his father’s second wife. His father still lives in the Ethiopian village where Samuelsson was born. At age 24, Chef Marcus Samuelsson, became executive chef of Aquavit, and soon. the young celebrity chef became the youngest ever to receive a three-star restaurant review from The New York Times, he was named by the James Beard Foundation in 2003, as the Best Chef: New York City.

19) Cristeta Comerford

Cristeta Pasia Comerford is a Philippine-American celebrity chef who has been the White House Executive Chef since 2005, and the first Asian decent and first woman chef to be chosen for the executive chef post. Cristeta Comerford was born as Cristeta Pasia in 1962, born in the Philippines and grew up at Sampaloc, Manila. Comerford studied at UP Diliman majoring in food technology, but before she was able to complete her degree, at age 23, she immigrated to the United States. Her first job was at the Sheraton Hotel near O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, and also worked at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, and later moved to Washington D.C. working as chefs in two restaurants. In 1995, White House executive chef Walter Scheib III recruited Chef Comerford to work in the White House during Clinton’s Administration.  After eleven years as the White House executive chef Scheib was asked to resign by First Lady Laura Bush, the official reason was that he was unable to meet the stylistic requirements of the First Lady, he  resigned in February 2005, and on August 14, 2005, chef Comerford was appointed White House executive chef by First Lady Laura Bush. During the Obama transition team, it was announced that Chef Comerford will be retained as the White House executive chef on January 9, 2009. Chef Cristeta Comerford appeared on Iron Chef America’s special two hour episode, originally broadcast on January 2, 2010. Chef Comerford was teamed up with celebrity chef Bobby Flay and competed against a team of chef Emeril Lagasse and chef Mario Batali, where Comerford and Flay were the winner. Chef Comerford lives with her husband John Comerford and their daughter, Danielle in Columbia, Maryland.

20) Robert Irvine

Robert Irvine is a British celebrity chef, who have appeared in various Food Network shows such as Dinner: Impossible, Worst Cooks in America and Restaurant: Impossible. Irvine started with his cooking career at the age of fifteen, during his enlisting in the Royal Navy.  Having completed culinary training, Robert served aboard Her Majesty’s Royal Yacht Britannia having completed his culinary training, also been of service to the Naval Mess in the White House West Wing. After completing his 10-year tour of duty, Robert Irvine worked as consultant in Bali and Jakarta, Indonesia and the Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, before becoming Executive Chef aboard of various cruise ships, and reach the highest point with the five-star MS Crystal Harmony. Chef Irvine is currently the founder and the president of Irvine Thyme, LLC., and has introduced an Irvine-branded line of spices, oils and vinegars. In December 2007, Chef Irvine also appeared in the Iron Chef America episode with celebrity chef Tyler Florence in a dessert battle (theme ingredient: sugar) against celebrity chefs Paula Deen and Cat Cora in which the men lost. Robert Irvine was chosen and named by 2007 Men’s Fitness magazine  as one of the 25 Fittest Guys in America. Chef Irvine is usually seen in black fit T-shirt or chef’s jacket when working bearing the Irvine clan badge with the motto: “sub sole, sub umbra, virens” (which means flourishing in both sunshine and shade). In 2008, Irvine and Randall Williams, his business partner, opened Eat! restaurant in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and but changed the name in February 2009 to Robert Irvine’s eat!. In December 2011, Robert Irvine opened his second restaurant in the area, he named Robert Irvine’s Nosh. The Food Network announced on November 20, 2008, that they had reinstated Chef Irvine to host Dinner: Impossible in six episodes with a scheduled air date in March 2009 until 2010. On January 19, 2011, Irvine appears in the premier show of Restaurant: Impossible, a restaurant make-over show, which was described as Dinner: Impossible spin-off show, where in the Restaurant: Impossible challenges Irvine to make over a restaurant in two days with a budget of $10,000. Robert Irvine and his first wife Karen, lived in Absecon, New Jersey, before buying his second home in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where Irvine is residing since at 2007. From his first marriage to Karen, together they has two daughters, Annalise and Talia. On May 10, 2012, Robert Irvine married Gail Kim, a former WWE and current TNA star and number one female wrestler in the world. Gail Kim-Irvine is of Korean descent, is a Canadian professional wrestler, valet, model and actress. Irvine met Kim on the set of Dinner: Impossible, when chef Irvine came to serve VIPs for WWE’s Summerslam.

21) David Chang

David Chang  born Chang Seok-ho, in August 5, 1977, is a Korean-American celebrity chef and entrepreneur,best known as founder of the Momofuku Restaurant Group, which includes Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Má Pêche, Milk Bar and Momofuku Ko in New York City. Momofuku Seiōbo in Sydney, Australia and Momofuku Toronto restaurants Momofuku Noodle Bar (TO), Nikai, Daishō and Shōtō. Chang was a competitive golfer as a child, participating in a various junior tournaments, and among those golf tournaments, Tiger Woods was also a participant in. Chang has worked various jobs such as teaching English in Japan, then cleaning up and holding finance positions in New York City. In 2000, Chang worked at Manhattan’s Mercer Kitchen and got a job at Tom Colicchio’s Craft Restaurant, as receptionist answering phones. Chang worked at Craft for two years and then moved back to Japan to work at a small soba (type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour,which the soba noodles are served in a various style of dish) shop, and after working in soba shop, he worked at a restaurant in Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo. Upon returning to the U.S. Chang worked at Café Boulud, a French restaurant in Manhattan, New York City, but soon felt dissatisfied with the entire dining setting of the restaurant. David Chang opened his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar located at the East Village in 2004.  Momofuku which means lucky peach according to Chang’s website, and the name momofuku sounds Japanese, but there is no such word in Japanese language, but it maybe a reference to the inventor of instant noodles and cup noodles, Momofuku Ando (a Taiwanese-Japanese businessman, founder of the Nissin Food Products Co. Ltd.). David Chang has appeared on the television show Top Chef: All Stars as a guest judge. He became a guest judge in 2011, on Master Chef Australia. David Chang along with executive producer celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain launched a 16 episode series on PBS entitled The Mind of a Chef  in 2012.

22)  Tom Colicchio

Thomas Patrick “Tom” Colicchio is an American unique celebrity chef, founder of  Craft and Colicchio & Sons Restaurants, served as executive chef and co-founder of the Gramercy Tavern in New York City. Chef Tom Colicchio is the recipient of James Beard Foundation five medals for cooking accomplishments. Chef Colicchio has been the head judge for the Top Chef on Bravo reality TV show on every season, and he has been featured chef on Great Chefs Television. Tom Colicchio was born August 15, 1962 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, of Italian descent on both parents. Since 2001, Chef Colicchio has been married to filmmaker Lori Silverbush, and together the couple has three sons.  Colicchio and his partner, a New York City restaurateur and the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), Danny Meyer opened the Gramercy Tavern in the Gramercy Park, Manhattan in July 1994. In 2003 and 2005, the Zagat Survey voted Gramercy Tavern as the Most Popular Restaurant in New York City. In 2006, Colicchio sold his shares and is no longer affiliated with the restaurant. He opened the first Craft restaurant one block south of Gramercy Tavern in spring of 2001, and after a year, Colicchio opened the first Craftsteak at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He also started the first sandwich shop he named witchcraft in 2003, and also opened Colicchio & Sons, in 2010, and also Riverpark. Tom Colicchio joined volunteers serving food to rescue workers at Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks. Chef Tom Colicchio served as the main consultant producer of the Top Chef Masters spin-off series on Bravo’s television show Top Chef. He also  appeared in the first season of HBO’s Treme in the fifth episode as himself along with fellow chefs David Chang, Eric Ripert and Wylie Dufresne. He appeared in cameo roles in the premiere episode of The Simpsons Season 23 in 2011, The Falcon and the D’ohman and The Smurfs. Chef Colichhio is the Executive Producer and also appeared in A Place at the Table a new documentary film with actor Jeff Bridges and British- born American activist, journalist, writer and academic Raj Patel released in the U.S. on March 1, 2013. Colicchio has written and published three cookbooks.

23) Buddy Valastro

Buddy Valastro born Bartolo “Buddy” Valastro, Jr.(born March 3, 1977) is an Italian American celebrity chef, entrepreneur, and reality television personality, also served as the head baker currently at Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he built a new factory at a mixed industrial and retail complex, Lackawanna Center, in Jersey City, and opened multiple branch in other locations. Chef Buddy Valastro is best known as the Cake Boss star, a reality television series which premiered in April 2009, and the host of the Kitchen Boss, the Cake Boss spin=off show, as well as the competitive reality television series Next Great Baker. He was born on March 3, 1977 raised in a Little Ferry, New Jersey. At the age 11, Buddy Valastro began working at Carlo’s Bakery, his family’s business, alongside his father. In 1994,Valastro’s father passed away, and he succeeded his father as the new Cake Boss, and since Valastro managed the bakery, it has risen to fame which follows the operation of the business. In April 2009, the series premiered on TLC in April 2009. The Cake Boss Café, opened its first bakery branch location on May 24, 2009, at the Discovery Times Square Exposition at 226 West 44th Street in Times Square,in New York City. The bakery opened its first full-range branch location in Ridgewood,New Jersey on February 10, 2013. In 2001, Chef Buddy Valastro married his wife Lisa.

24)  Ron Ben-Israel

Ron Ben-Israel is an Israeli pastry chef, executive chef, unique celebrity chef and owner of Ron Ben-Israel Cakes in New York City, also best known for his detail in sugar paste flowers in his wedding and special occasion cakes. Chef Ron Ben-Israel has also hosted Sweet Genius, the cooking competition TV show since 2011. Ben-Israel was born in 1957 in Israel, and grew up in Tel Aviv. Chef Ben-Israel ‘s mother was born in Vienna and was rescued by American volunteers  from the ghetto, and immigrated to Israe, and was working n a map-making for the governmentl. Ben-Israel’s father, Moshe,worked in the printing company, he lost most of his family in the Holocaust (the mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II, a systematic state program sponsored mass murder by Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler in Germany), surviving Auschwitz (a network of concentration and extermination camps). During his childhood, Ben-Israel loved baking in the kitchen, however, during his growing up years, he specialized in modern dance. Ben-Israel served as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces during the mid 1970s, and gave credit to his Israeli military training for his success, and stated that it thought him self- discipline and precision in his work. At teh age of 21, Ben-Israel started a dance career, after leaving the army. Ben-Israel danced with the Batsheva Israeli dance companies (an internationally acclaimed dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel)  and Bat-Dor Israeli Dance company, for over 15 years, and toured internationally with the group. Ben-Israel moved to the United States after his dancing career in 1993, while living in New York City because of developing arthritis. Ben-Israel began cooking as his new career, doing temporary jobs such as baking cakes and designing windows shop and fell in love with baking. Martha Stewart discovered and mentored Ben-Israel, when she saw one of his cakes in a window. Since 2011, Ben-Israel has been the host and judge of the Food Network since 2011, Sweet Genius competition show, became a Visiting Master Pastry–Instructor at the New York City’s The International Culinary Center. Chef Ben-Israel also teaches his approach to sugar paste at the Classic Pastry Arts class and the Cake Techniques & Design class. Chef Ben-Israel is openly gay.

25)  Alton Brown

Alton Brown Alton Crawford Brown is an American television personality, celebrity chef, author of various cookery books, actor, and cinematographer, creator and host of Good Eats the Food Network television show, the Feasting on Asphalt mini-series and Feasting on Waves, and the Iron Chef America host and main commentator. Alton Brown developed hi natural ability in cooking with guidance from his mother and grandmother, and nurtured his culinary talent. Alton worked as a cinematographer for a decade and video director, but later realized he found dull and boring watching cooking shows  and convinced himself that he could do it better, and he left tha film industry  and moved to Vermont to learn and study at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vt. Alton is known for being outspoken in his shows about his dislike of single-purpose kitchen utensils and equipment, such as garlic presses and margarita machines, but Alton adapts a few traditional single-purpose devices, like the melon ballers and rice cookers, into multi-purpose tools. Chef Brown hosted a new  cooking show, Cutthroat Kitchen, a battle between competing four chefs against each other in a no-holds-barred cook-off which premiered on August 11, 2013. Each of the chef is given $25,000 with which they have to bid on certain conditions that will be hold for exclusive use of an ingredient during the competition or to prevent a competitor from using certain cooking tools. The winner can keep whatever is left of their funds as their prize. Brown hosted as a mentor on Season 8 of The Next Food Network Star with co-host chef Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis. Alton Brown with his wife and his daughter Zoey born in 199, resides currently in Marietta, Georgia,  with his pets, two Cardigan corgis dog breeds and his former pet, Spike, a green Iguana. 

26) Paula Deen

Paula Ann Hiers Deen is an American celebrity chef, cooking show host, restaurateur, author of fourteen cookbooks, actress, and a television personality Emmy Award winner. Deen owned The Lady & Sons restaurant with her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen, his two sons from first marriage, and currently lives in Savannah, Georgia where her restaurant is located. Paula Deen married Michael Groover, a tug boat captain in Port Savannah, Georgia, in 2004, but still uses Deen as her surname, from her first marriage. In 1965, Deen married first husband Jimmy Deen after her parents died before she was 23, but her marriage ended in divorce in 1989, when Jimmy Deen left his family, leaving Paula deen with $200. Deen suffered from panic attacks and agoraphobia in her 20′s, (an anxiety disorder described fear of crowd or open spaces). She focused  herself in cooking for her family as self therapy and prevent herself from leaving the house. Deen’s style of cooking was influenced by grandmother Irene Paul who had taught her the hand-me-down art of Southern cooking, she felt safe  at her own stove, making thousands of pots of chicken and dumplings. Paula Deen started a catering service, making sandwiches and meals, which her sons Jamie and Bobby delivered, and soon her business outgrew her kitchen, and opened her restaurant The Lady in 1991, opened her The Lady & Sons in January 1996, with the specialty of Southern comfort foods buffet style, with a salad bar and one dessert. Deen co-owns Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House in Savannah, Georgia currently. Paula Deen announced she had type 2 diabetes in January 17, 2012, for the last three years, and has faced criticism for the high amounts of fat, salt, and sugar in her recipes, and was also revealed, that she was a paid spokesperson for the Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company, with product of insulin,as the main export. Deen was called a hypocrite for continuing to promoting her high-fat and sugar diet while revealing her medical condition only when it benefited her in representing the drug company to market their diabetes management program. A former employee of Deen’s restaurant and her brother Earl “Bubba” Hiers, a white female American, Lisa Jackson, filed a lawsuit of allege racial and sexual discrimination, claimed that Deen made derogatory and offensive  remarks regarding African Americans because her nieces are bi-racial with an African-American father. However, a federal judge dismissed the claims of racial discrimination that were brought by Lisa Jackson, on August 12, 2013, and the judge ruled that Jackson cannot claim to be a victim of racial discrimination which targets the African American employees, because she is white and that she is just “an accidental victim” of the alleged racial discrimination case. Both parties decided and agreed to drop the lawsuit without any award of costs of damages or fees to any party.

27) Bobby Chinn

Bobby Chinn, is a restaurateur and a celebrity chef sometimes known with a rude in manners, and disrespectful television host in Hanoi, Vietnam. Bobby Chinn was born in Auckland, New Zealand in April 3, 1964, of  mixed Chinese-American and Egyptian heritage. Chinn graduated in the United States with a bachelor degree in finance and economics and worked briefly as a Wall Street financer. In 1996, Chinn  moved to Hanoi and opened Restaurant Bobby Chinn in Saigon since 2011 and Home by Bobby Chinn in Hanoi since 2001. Bobby Chinn hosted the World Cafe Asia television show, for the Travel and Living Channel (TLC), Saturday Kitchen at BBC, Food’s Great Food Live in UKTV and Bobby Chinn Cooks Asia for the Discovery channel. Bobby is know for one of the several unique colorful global chefs. In late autumn 2013, Bobby Chinn will launch a new restaurant, in 2013′s late Autumn, named The House of Ho, in the heart of Soho, London. Chinn revealed that he studied improvisational comedy at The Groundling and ended up doing a little bit of stand up in L.A. and San Francisco, and worked as waiter and found himself about his passion in the kitchen, worked and trained under some great chefs in San Francisco and France and decided that he wanted to be a chef. He then moved to Vietnam to learn Vietnamese food and planned to have his own restaurant in the United States, however,  10 years passed, Chinn owned his restaurants in Vietnam.  Bobby Chinn also stated that he loves to travel and love to stay in swank hotels, eat street food  and explore traditional cuisines in every country that he visited. Chinn also stated eating street and cheap food next to the locals because there is an “added sense of acceptance as well as better sense of the people and the culture”.