The profession seems to attract a lot of assholes - not just the famous ones (apologies to @Chefguy who I believe isn’t a real-life chef by trade anyway, but if he were, we would exempt him from this stereotype). If I understand correctly, it’s something people in the food world tend to expect. I’ve only known one professional chef well so that’s not much of a sample, but yeah, he was an arrogant jerk.
It may be that there is something about the skill set needed, or the process you have to go through to achieve professional status, or maybe the fact that chefs get to boss people around just attracts a certain type. I dunno.
My understanding is that there is a lot of pressure in a real, high-end restaurant kitchen but the kind of yelling that Gordon Ramsay does on something like Hell’s Kitchen would not be tolerated.
Definitely. And if you watch the UK versions of his shows, like the UK Kitchen Nightmares or The F Word, you’ll hear much less yelling and fewer curse words.
Alton Brown has never been a chef. He’s never worked in the restaurant business. He also had a really messed-up childhood (his father was a media executive who died under odd circumstances and his mother married multiple times after that) so I suspect he’s got some issues going under the surface.
No, I’m not. But like a lot of professions, I would assume that many of those who are successful at it are type-A personalities, with little tolerance for error. I’m a bit of a Nazi in my own kitchen, as my spouse will attest.
This is true, pretty much. He was originally in television commercial production (and also was a cinematographer for music videos), and when he came up with the idea for Good Eats, he realized that he would have to get a culinary education in order to get the knowledge base and kitchen skills he needed. So, he attended, and graduated from, the New England Culinary Institute.
I would suspect that he did have to do some commerical or restaurant kitchen work as part of his studies at NECI, but you’re right in that he was never a chef, or really worked in the restaurant business.
Not sure what your point is? I wouldn’t have posted what I did if it wasn’t correct and easily verifiable, so …?
My point was that he’s being referred to as a chef here, and that isn’t really right since he’s never actually been one. And of course you don’t need to be a chef to be an a-hole or have other personal problems.
My point was simply to elaborate that while Brown isn’t a chef, he does have culinary training. And, yes, what you posted was “correct and easily verifiable,” but I thought it might be helpful to elaborate so that other readers didn’t have to go fishing for that information. That is all.
Well, OK then? Still not sure how this matters - I very much doubt his issues have anything to do with his training or his work. However, his popularity gives a whole lot more people exposure to what he thinks, which probably isn’t such a great idea for him personally right now.
I think the last four years have unwound a whole lot of folks, and very much not for the better.