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!

Now that sounds rather fun, doesn’t it? Food fight? Heck, count me in! So what is this all about? TV channel 4 in the UK has gotten together 4 of the most popular celebrity chefs in the country. Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – these are the 4 heavyweights that will battle it out over the 2 weeks that the show will be aired.

So what will the platform be? Would we be seeing something similar to Iron Chef? As much as I love that show, I find the idea of this food fight quite interesting as well. The platform is such that each of the celebrity chefs would have his own program and his own challenge. Let’s meet the challengers.

Heston “The Geek” Blumenthal
His challenge? To turn Little Chef restaurants into something of a success. Currently, these restaurants do not have the best reputation. The Geek has £350,000 and 6 months to do his job.

Gordon “Raging Bull” Ramsay
His challenge is to “force” the locals to eat out at restaurants. It could be a tough one since people are cutting back on extra expenses.

Jamie “The Kid” Oliver
The pretty boy chef is going on a campaign to rescue British pork. He needs to encourage the people to buy locally grown pork products as opposed to cheaper imported ones.

Hugh “The Squire” Fearnley-Whittingstall
If Jamie is to take on the case of pork, The Squire is going to take up for chicken.

Now the variety in the challenges is sure to present interesting episodes, isn’t it?

It was only recently that we heard about celebrity chef Tom Colicchio being accused of stiffing his employees. Now, it seems that it is another celebrity chef’s turn. This time, it is Bobby Flay who is in the sights of critics and people who want to bring him down.

The Associated Press has this report:

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court by current and former employees, names as a defendant Bold Food LLC. The company owns or operates Bar Americain and Mesa Grill NYC in Manhattan. Other restaurants are in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

It’s one of a string of similar lawsuits filed on behalf of employees of New York restaurants.

There is no definitive information as to whether or not there is substantial proof that Chef Bobby Flay is indeed guilty of the charges. I don’t know which other restaurants in New York are facing the same charges but it seems that this is an organized thing, targeting high profile restaurateurs. In any case, if there is one result of all this publicity, it is that the chefs being targeted are getting free press coverage. Of course, if they are convicted, it is another story.

Who is your favorite Iron Chef? If it’s Bobby Flay that you’re naming, then you will be happy to know that you can get more of him, this time on the radio. It seems that the demand for this celebrity chef is going nowhere but up. In spite of his numerous TV appearances, web site citations, and magazine features, his fans just seem to need more – and more – of him. Thus his most recent gig – a radio talk show.

Chron.com reports:

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is launching a talk radio show on which he will offer advice to men on everything from dating, dining, dressing and how to nail a tough job interview.

Flay’s wife, actress Stephanie March, will join him on the show occasionally.

Interesting that he will be dishing out more than his daily dose of recipes, huh? Then again, he seems to have done extremely well in his life, he probably has a lot of advice to offer his listeners. What do you think about that, 2 hours of radio with Bobby Flay?

And it is not just him, apparently! It seems that the British public is becoming increasingly bothered by how much the F-word is being used on the telly. Oh, and I am not talking about “F” as in “fowl” but “F” as in the other foul word. The National has a write up of this today:

A backlash has emerged in Britain against the amount of swearing now common on television and radio.

For years, there has been a progressive increase in the use of bad language in popular programmes, particularly among comedians, talk show hosts and, for no apparent reason, celebrity chefs.

There were a lot of personalities mentioned in the article, including the recently infamous duo of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross. There were no other celebrity chefs mentioned except for Jamie Oliver, who was said to have used the F-word 23 times in a 50-minute episode.

To be honest, I never really noticed this! Perhaps the episodes that I have seen were “clean?” Or maybe they were edited. Another possibility – I have become so immune to hearing that word that I do not even take note when it is mentioned on TV.

It does not matter – the fact is that for once, I agree with the critics. There is no reason for celebrity chefs to be using the F-word in their cooking shows. Although I have to admit that I have probably used it on several occasions while working in the kitchen. Poor Jamie Oliver, always in the middle of these controversies…

Michael Caines, a Michelin-star awardee, has been given a petition urging him to take off one of the best dishes on his menu. Foie gras, translated literally into fat liver, is a French delicacy that is well loved by many foodies around the world. The process of making foie gras is what the activists are against.

According to Sharon Howe of the organisation Exeter Friends for Animals, “It’s quite ironic. Michael Caines promotes local produce, which we think is a very praiseworthy. But at the same time he is importing a product, which, were it produced in this country, would be banned because it contravenes animal welfare legislation. It’s a very cruel product.”

Foie gras is made by overfeeding geese and duck, in order to achieve that unique texture. Animal activists assert that this is bad and cruel for the animals in question. This issue is nothing new, really. In fact, production of foie gras is already banned in some areas, including the UK. This has not deterred foodies from indulging in this wonderful food, though.

Seriously, I understand where these people are coming from. They want to look after those who cannot look after themselves. At the risk of being deemed cruel, inhumane, or selfish, I would like to say that I think they are taking it too far. In the larger scheme of things, everything has its place.

Anyhow, celebrity chef Caines has not released any comment. For now, perhaps, foie gras will remain to be part of his menu. I am not one to complain.

He may be at the top in the reality TV show Top Chef but Tom Colicchio does not seem to be on top of his game when it comes to real life. Colicchio opened his restaurant Craft in New York in 2001 and has since then widened his horizons by opening other branches in different parts of the States.

On Friday of this week, however, a former employee of Calicchio file a lawsuit against him. The complaint? It seems that the Top Chef star has been remiss in giving his workers their due. Included in the complaint are violations such as not paying minimum wage, overtime, and tips from customers.

The complainant is a certain Nessa Rapone, who worked at the Craftbar in New York last year. In her statement, she declared that she is filing the lawsuit on behalf of the other workers of Calicchio who were paid on an hourly basis. Reuters has this report:

A former employee sued “Top Chef” TV show judge Tom Colicchio in federal court on Friday for allegedly not paying some of his restaurant workers minimum wages, overtime and tips from customers.

Nessa Rapone, who worked at Craftbar in New York in 2007, filed suit in Manhattan federal court on behalf of other hourly paid workers seeking to recover “minimum wages, overtime compensation and misappropriated tips” from Colicchio.

So what does the Top Chef celebrity has to say about the lawsuit? That camp has been silent on the matter so far

When Giada De Laurentiis was pregnant — and her nesting instincts started early. She’ll be sharing Thansgiving recipes in her show Everyday Italian But the chef will be reinventing Thanksgiving fare, serving salad instead of corn bread.

She says most of her family is married to Americans, and so it’s become part of her personal family traditions. And have to admit, nothing like a table full of food to satisfy those first-trimester cravings.

Yes, female chefs are breaking the glass ceiling. Find out how they’re penetrating the culinary world (and find links to some of their award-winning recipes).

Antonio Carluccio, an Italian chef who runs a successful restaurant chain and has made a number of television appearances, stabbed himself in the chest with a kitchen knife.

According to the accounts no one knows what really happened, or whether it was an accident or a suicide attempt.