Next time someone approaches you and says they have connections to Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey, or any other celebrity chef, think twice. Especially if the person is named Kenneth Goldsmith.

Actually, you do not have to worry much about Goldsmith anytime soon. He has been convicted of his crimes and has been jailed, where he will stay for the next 3 ½ years. Goldsmith hails from Norton Disney, Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom. He has conned a lot of people into thinking that he was a trained chef and that he is good friends with renowned celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey. His modus operandi was to convince entrepreneurs to invest in his “business.” Using his supposed connections with the other REAL celebrity chefs, he was able to persuade a lot of people. The result? He was able to live an extravagant lifestyle, which he enjoyed with his girlfriend Kirsty Emmans.

Naturally, the scam came to light, as most other scams normally do. The couple were caught, tried, and sentenced. In the meantime, the celebrity chefs in question walk away smelling like roses.

I find it quite funny how Goldsmith made up stories about his relationship with the chefs, though. There is this one story about how, when they were much younger, Goldsmith flushed Jamie’s head down the toilet. Now why would anyone want to do that?

And what do Oliver and Ramsay have to say about this? Nothing, I guess. They have not released statements, and perhaps they should just keep it that way.

Celebrity chefs may be the best cooks on earth but that does not mean that they are the most behaved as well. Being celebrities, they are also not exempt from problems and rumors and all that kind of stuff. Usually it is Jamie Oliver who is in this kind of pickle. This time, though, it is David Burke that is the target.

The name not familiar? David Burke is the owner of several restaurants, one of which is David Burke Townhouse in New York. Burke has also appeared in some shows like Iron Chef America.

Anyhow, chauffeur Thomas Heiser, 28 years old, has filed a lawsuit against the chef. In a Fort Lee Municipal Court, he claimed that the chef punched him in the face when he asked for a day off because it was his wife’s birthday. According to a UPI report Heiser explained:

“He called me a piece of (expletive), (expletive), lazy mother (expletive), which wasn’t unusual. “He said, ‘Give me the keys. You walk home.’”

More than being merely punched in the face, Heiser also says that Burke slammed his head on a car trunk.

So what has the chef got to say about this? Burke says that he did insult the chauffeur but he that he never did lay a hand on him.

Now who to believe? I don’t know. We don’t have that information. But we do know that if the chef is convicted, he will be facing up to six months in jail.

You would think so! After all, these celebrity chefs are excellent in their field and anything that they would endorse should be up to par with their standards, right? Apparently not!

Which?, a consumer magazine, recently conducted a test on various kitchen tools and gadgets that celebrity chefs endorse. And what did they find out? Many of these gadgets do not measure up to the reputation of their celebrity chef endorsers!

The Herald ran a story on this and named some of the high profile chefs and their kitchen appliances and tools. While many of them did not really exceed the performance of non-celebrity chef gadgets, not all of them were “fails.” In fact, there was only one that was marked as a “Don’t Buy” – Rosemary Conley’s EnerGi HG6 Health Grill. This scored a mere 34 out of 100. The reason for this pitiful mark? The grill heated slowly, produced “awful vegetables and pallid chicken” and was difficult to set up and clean.

Other celebrity chefs whose products were scrutinized include:

-Worrall Thompson, said to be the most licensed celebrity chef in Europe, with sales of £60m in 2008 from products ranging from barbeque cleaners to cookers. Note: the judges said that his products were more of a hit and miss thing.

- James Martin, host of BBC1′s Saturday Kitchen, were awarded the highest ratings. His hand-mixer and mini-chopper (68% and 67%) triumphed over those of his rivals, but neither rated in the Best Buy category.

So should you buy celebrity chef-endorsed products? Up to you!

Yes, it is a fork, literally. Celebrity chef Tyler Florence has been operating a cookware store for about a year now in Mill Valley. Dubbed the Tyler Florence Shop (no mistaking who owns this store!), the shop has had a signature fork as its storefront symbol. There is nothing ordinary about this fixture – it weighs a hefty 50 pounds!

Early this month, the police received a report that the 50-pound fork was missing. This was on the 10th of June, although the employees already noticed that it was missing about two days prior to the report. (Well it would be kinda hard NOT to notice a missing fork that big, don’t you think?) Anyhow, they thought that it might have been a school prank so they didn’t think much of it in the beginning.

Now, the missing fork is causing quite a stir, with celebrity chef Tyler Florence himself appealing to people over Twitter. He even offered a reward to whoever finds it and returns it!

The celebrity chef, as much as he might be missing his fork, is not so dense as not to see the humor in the situation, though. Together with his wife, Tyler continues his search for his fork but also welcomes the laughter that it occasionally brings. Indeed, where else have you heard about such an online buzz about a missing fork?

So, if any of you have heard about or seen this fork, let the chef know. You’ll make him happy AND get a reward for it too!

Photo courtesy of Food Network

Gordon Ramsay is perhaps one of the most controversial celebrity chefs today. His foul mouth and raging temper is known all over the world, and is always seen in his TV shows. For the Australian audience at the Good Food and Wine Show, Chef Ramsay has gone too far.

This time, Ramsay had TV personality Tracy Grimshaw in his targets. He pulled out a picture of a naked woman on her hands and knees. The woman was in the likeness of a pig, with multiple breasts. To the dismay and shock of the audience, he went on to say that that woman was Tracy Grimshaw. He didn’t stop there, though, and proceeded to make jokes about the journalist’s activities and sexual preferences.

With lots of women and children in the audience, it is but expected that they all got huffy about the incident.

LG, a major sponsor of the event, has not commented on the incident. Ramsay’s spokesperson, however, says that it was merely a stunt – a joke – and should be taken as such. She said that “He really respects her as a journalist, it was just a joke. She interviews him every time he comes to Australia; they have a great relationship.”

I have to say, Ramsay does have a tendency to be a little rough on people. You only have to watch one of his shows to realize that. Joke or not, I have to agree with the audience in saying that it was tasteless and inappropriate. How about you?

There is no dearth of cooking shows these days. From the United States to the United Kingdom to Asia – shows featuring one celebrity chef (or a group of them) are everywhere. So why should we be excited about Top Chef Masters?

If you have not already heard, Top Chef is one of the most popular shows, but the previous season is over. I am pretty sure that a lot of you are having Top Chef withdrawal right now, so this pece of news about Top Chef Masters should whet your appetites somehow.

So back to my question, why should we be excited? Here are a few reasons. One, there will be 24 chefs in the show, all of them pitted against each other. Not one, not two, not even 12, but a whopping 24!

Two, the successful formula that has been followed in Top Chef will be followed in Top Chef Masters. This is certainly something that a lot of people will appreciate (Top Chef withdrawal symptoms remember?).

Three, the line up is more than interesting – both for the judges and the contestants. For the judges, how do Tom, Padma, and Gail sound? Previous winners are always interesting for me. We also have some surprise judges thrown in – writers and produces of Lost, for example. As for the contestants, they are only some of the most well known personalities in the restaurant scene.

For more details, visit the Top Chef Masters web site.

I am in an argumentative mood. I am not sure why but perhaps reading all these things targeting celebrity chefs is contributing to it. In my previous post, Jamie Oliver was being attacked by pregnant women in metal cages. Now I read about a Fat Panel saying that celebrity chefs offer recipes that have too much fat in them.

The Straits Times had a write up on this a few days ago:

A REPORT from United Kingdom group, the Fat Panel, has found that the single servings of recipes in celebrity chef cook books contain too much fat.

Some recipes from celebrity chefs like Nigella Lawson and Gordon Ramsey’s were found to have more than the entire daily recommended fat intake of 30g for men and 20g for women said a report on Friday.
‘Celebrity chefs are incredibly influential when it comes to what we eat,’ dietician Sian Porter said. ‘While these delicious meals are fine as occasional treats, people do not realise the health implications.’

Mind you, I am not a big fan of either Nigella or Gordon Ramsey but hey, aren’t we thinking adults here? If you see a recipe and you decide to make it, wouldn’t you figure out if there is too much fat in it? And wouldn’t it be up to you to decide whether or not to make it anyway?

Come on, people of the Fat Panel. Don’t take away our treats. Let us decide if we want these recipes or not.

Jamie Oliver seems to be one of the favorite celebrity chefs of various activist groups. This time, he is being targeted by PETA, the well known animal rights activist group. In a demonstration held in front of Jamie’s Italian restaurant in Brighton, members of PETA held placards stating ‘Be Pukka to Pigs: Go Vegetarian.”

The demonstrators didn’t stop at written protestations. One demonstrator, Lynzi Waddington, took it upon herself to imitate a pregnant sow (and she is heavily pregnant by the way), knelt down on the ground inside a metal cage. Apparently, this is one practice that is common in the hog raising industry. Her comment? “Pigs are very sensitive animals, they do feel pain, and they deserve to be treated right.”

What does the celebrity chef have to say about all this? His spokesman said that “The meat Jamie is serving up is very high quality. They should go make a protest somewhere that imports its meat.”

While that does not directly answer the demonstrator’s remarks on “humane” treatment of pigs, it does make sense to me. I might become the target of animal rights activists because of this post but seriously, there is a place for everyone, everything. It’s called the food chain. It is part of life.

While I do not see Jamie Oliver as the perfect person (well he is hunky, I have to say that!), I do not see him forcing vegetarians to eat meat either. So why not leave meat-eaters alone?

You don’t know who Marc Veyrat is? He is a French celebrity chef – and yeah, the French know all about good food! – who is known for his forays into the countryside to gather wild herbs to incorporate into his excellent dishes. Late last month, news reports spread like wildfire that the celebrity chef is “quitting the kitchen.”

His restaurant, La Maison de Marc Veyrat (more popularly known as L’Auberge de l’Eridan) is closing down, much to the dismay of many. Unlike other chefs, who are closing down their shops because of the credit crunch, Veyrat cites health reasons for this closure. He is quoted as saying “I am stopping work in Annecy because physically, I have to, following a serious ski accident three years ago.”

The restaurant is located near Annecy and has earned 3 stars in the Michelin Guide. It was opened by Veyrat in 1992 and is best known for its traditional dishes infused with lots of wild herbs. Veyrat also introduced the concept of “molecular gastronomy.” This concept is basically the use of chemistry in coming up with unique recipes. That is, chemistry inspired the chef to put his own twist to various kinds of dishes, making them one of a kind.

Sad to say, that era seems to be coming to an end. Veyrat says that perhaps, the restaurant will make a comeback in the future but if it does, it will certainly be transformed. Still, the good news is that he says he might come back if he becomes fit again.

For those of you in Jacksonville, Florida, tomorrow is a good day! March 5, 2009, Thursday, is the day of the 23rd Annual Celebrity Chefs Tasting Luncheon And Silent Auction. This charity event will be held from 11 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon at the Prime Osborn Convention Center.

I got wind of this event from the blog Florida Foodies – lots of stuff to be found here, by the way! – and after reading about the luncheon, I couldn’t help but wish that I were nearer to Florida! More than the actual foodie experience itself, you can get the satisfaction of knowing that your money is going to a good cause. The luncheon is actually the annual fundraiser of the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary and a large percentage of the earnings from the event will go to worthy causes such as scholarships, homework assistance, and the Child Development Center and Towers Memorial Center. Another beneficiary of this event is the Senior Center and the Adult Rehabilitation Center.

Locals will be delighted to know that the celebrities on the guest roll are as follows:

• Daryl Smith, linebacker, Jacksonville Jaguars.
• Mike Schneider, Owner, Loop Restaurants and Bistro Aix
• Chef Jessica Bright, Chef, TV/Radio Personality & Florida Foodies Contributor
• Jennifer Bauer; reporter for Channel 4
• Victor Blackwell and Jeannie Blaylock, anchors for Channels 12 and 25
• Mark Spain and Dawn Lopez, anchors for Channel 47
• Angela Corey, State Attorney, Florida’s 4th Judicial Circuit
• Bill Hughes, General Manager – TPC Sawgrass
• Randy Goodwin , President/CEO PRI Productions
• Sally Evans, Rita Joost and Darleen Unger, Women’s Auxiliary members
• Karen Wolfson, Director, Wolfson Children’s Hospital
• Linda Sherrer, President/CEO Prudential Network Realty

For tickets and inquiries, call 904-301-4841. Tickets only cost $25!