Rachael Ray no longer sees herself as someone who teaches harassed moms how to make a 20 minute casserole.

“People know me for my love of food, but I have so much more I want to share, … Our show’s going to be all about taking a bigger bite out of life. I want people to see themselves in this show because life is full of messes and successes, and getting there is half the fun.”

Guess she fancies herself as Oprah, but more hyper. Way more hyper.

Have you ever ordered a $300 appetizer, gotten served little more than pureed entrails with very pretty slices of grape, and thought: “Damn, I just want a burger?”

Mario Batali laughs and takes this all in stride. There’s a battle between what the cook thinks is high art and what the customer just wants to eat.”

Thank God this is a chef that can serve food that actually (gasp!) fills your stomach. Novel concept.

Gordon Ramsay’s very particular about food. So who would he like to be in the kitchen when he’s served his last meal? In an interview, he said that he wanted the appetizer to be made by Alain Ducasse, and the main course to be made by his mentor, Joel Robuchon.

Nigella Lawson isn’t bothered by criticism that she doesn’t have a right to tell people how to cook. “Gordon Ramsay makes me laugh because he knows that I’m not a chef,” she says. “I see paparazzi shots of me with no make-up, wearing trainers, not holding in my tummy, and I hate it, but it would be unbearable to worry about it all the time.”

Besides, she feels what people say don’t matter as much as what you believe.
“if you know that something has been really vicious, you don’t read it, you don’t let it into your head. What’s damaging is when sentences go through your head and you burn with the injustice of it.”

Wolfgang Puck is one of the most famous and well respected celebrity chefs. But he’s had his share of failure.

He just doesn’t let it get to him. “I learned more from the one restaurant that didn’t work than from all the ones that were successes.”

He doesn’t really care much about the intrigue and competition that comes with being in the culinary industry. “Only you can judge your life. You have to live up to your own expectations.”

Did you know that Emeril Lagasse almost became a musician?

“I ended up turning down a full scholarship of music at the conservatory to pay to go to cooking school,” he said. “If you don’t follow your dream, who will?”

He still loves music, though. “Music is one of those things that is constantly going in my head all the time. It’s sort of like the evolution and creation of doing food, or my philosophy about wine. It’s always beating in my head, so it keeps the spirit moving.”

This is what Gordon Ramsay had to say after reading a press release that a Scotland hotel was making a deep fried sandwich of Nutella.

“I’m horrified. I mean, Christ! Seventy-five per cent of my staff are French. They look at me like I’m some sort of twat that my Scottish brothers are launching two slices of bread with a fucking inch of Nutella between them, battered and deep fat fried.

“Now what the fuck is this country coming to? What are we doing to ourselves? That has to be abolished. Here we are, progressing tenfold, buying the right bread, real croissants, we’re making fresh muesli and we understand what a great cup of coffee is. And then some idiot brings out a deep-fried chocolate sandwich.

“I want to find the bastard that put that idea together. I’ve got the most amazing charcoal grill in my new kitchen. I’m going to sit his butt on it and criss-cross my name on his bloody arse cheeks to remind him. Every time he wakes up in the morning he can gawp at his arse.

“Is he fucking stupid? When these things hit France, the French just have a field day laughing at us. So I’m looking for that scumbag. I’m going to fucking grill his arse. Brand him with a hot iron like a little calf or a lamb. I’m going to put Ramsayfied on his butt, so every time he wakes up in the morning, he thinks ‘Fuck! I shouldn’t have done that!”

Check out Anthony Bourdain’s candid interview with TV Guide where he talks about the upcoming season of No Reservations, his fight with Rachael Ray and other celebrity chefs, and his recent life change.

Nigella Lawson’s new book , Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast. is a handy collection of shortcuts and and simple recipes for the busy (yet discerning) cook.

These recipes are especially helpful during the holiday season. The food writer, host and chef certainly knows how to whip up a quick meal, but she reminds people that there’s more to life than the kitchen. Parties are about “good company and good conversation” she says, and stres shouldn’t get in the way. “You could have the best meal you’ve ever, ever eaten in your life but in that atmosphere, it’s not going to taste so good.”

It’s funny: while women are traditionally seen queen of the kitchen, the professional culinary world tends to be very discriminating of female chefs.

Daniel Rogov, wine and restaurant critic says: “Many men who encourage or ‘allow’ women to enter the kitchen often do so only at an entry level and rarely allow them to rise to that point where they will become serious competition for themselves.”

He adds that since 17th century America, the belief that women can only be chefs in taverns and corner restaurants, while the more exclusive places were ruled by men. In England, women handled the kitchens of Princes, Dukes and Earls, while men handled the meals of the King and Queen. “Not a single woman has ever been admitted into the ranks of the Royal Society of Chefs,” he says.

The belief is that women lack the management skills to handle the chaos of a large kitchen, even if in equally creative and pressure-packed industries like publishing and TV, they consistently lord over staffs much larger than the typical restaurant crew.