Alton Brown, the celebrated presenter who brought humor, science, and history to the cooking show landscape with his program “Good Eats,” is tired of hearing “yes, chef.”
“There cannot possibly be a more ... inappropriately overused expression in the culinary world,” Brown said on GBH’s The Culture Show. “Basically anybody with a white jacket got to be called 'chef’ because they had a white jacket ... everybody that came out of culinary school said, 'well, I’m a chef now.’ No, you’re not. You have a chef’s coat.”
“I hold that term as a sign of respect for the people that I feel have earned it,” he added.
“I’m not a chef, I’m not employed as a chef, my job title is not chef, my business card doesn’t say chef,” said Brown, laughing. “If other people in the industry decide to call me that out of respect, pity, whatever it might be, then that’s their decision. I don’t get to make that decision.”
The Food Network star expanded on the rise of that expression and other topics, from his affinity for Cap’n Crunch to his dislike of martini glasses, in his new book, “Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations.” Brown says the collection of essays began as a typing exercise.
“I was refurbishing an old manual typewriter and I was just running kind of a key test and I started typing ... and it turned into like five pages,” said Brown. “I stopped and I read it and I’m like, 'Well, that’s unusual ... I wonder if I could do that again.’”
The essays range from the comedic to the vulnerable. In addition to his cuisine-centric commentaries, Brown delves into the trappings of fame, his father, and his complicated relationship with dieting.
“Maybe I require a certain amount of padding in order to be bearable as a human being. I lost all this weight, and within a couple months, no one could stand me anymore. And, you know, I couldn’t stand me anymore,” he said. “So I think that personal transformation can be dangerous. ... Be authentically you first.”
Brown will be in the Boston area for a book signing on Feb. 8 at Harvard Book Store, and for his “Last Bite” live show at the Boch Center Wang Theatre on March 14.
To hear more from Alton Brown, listen to the full interview above. Listen to The Culture Show daily at 2 p.m. on 89.7.
