So like any professional foodie, I have my selection of favorite celebrity chefs. They are as follows:

Anthony Bourdain because he’ll be the first to tell you that he isn’t a chef. I like him because he’s talented as a chef, sarcastic and has a very grounded outlook on working as a chef.

Next on my list is Susur Lee, a fellow Canadian. I admire him because he’s honest, hard working and most importantly humble. Not to mention he has 5 restaurants.

I think Lynn Crawford is also amazing because she’ll kick your butt if your not pulling your weight.

I also get a kick out of Gordan Ramsey. Yeah I said it.  I actually like the guy.  I don’t like his show Hell’s Kitchen. As a matter of fact I found it quite degrading the first time I saw it and I certainly don’t watch it now, but I do like Kitchen Nightmares (preferably the European edition because they don’t bleep out the swearing and the bleeping drives me too distraction) I believe he has talent and knows what he’s doing. I mean he has like a bazillion Michelin Stars. I think he must know something.

Respect should also be given to Jamie Oliver because of his strong believe that healthy food should be served out of school cafeterias and junk food is not the option.  He’s a maverick and good is not good enough with him. 

And of course, I bow my head to Mrs. Julia Child. The stories she could have shared not to mention a nip or two from a bottle of Brandy.

This is all leading to the explosion of food related TV reality shows that have cropped up in the last few years and the sometimes unhealthy expectations/pseudo reality that the average consumer has regarding life in a commercial kitchen, what can be created, and the road to celebrity chefdom in all it’s glory. Let me paint you a picture.

A customer came up to me soon after I opened Anna’s Indulgence. They asked me if I watched any dessert reality shows, which at this point I admitted to seeing a few.

This led to the customer then explaining to me that they wanted a cake for their child’s 3rd birthday. The kid was turning three, and the cake had to be grand.  Because the child had a thing for mermaids, the cake had to be a mermaid. Because the parents were on a tight budget for the food (because they had spent it on mermaid balloons, plates, napkins and goody bags) they only had $50 to spend on the cake. Then they wanted to know if it was possible if I could make them a three foot mermaid cake, for the next day I might add, all for the grand total of $50 (because it was their child’s birthday dontcha’ know)

After I picked my jaw up from my freshly waxed floor, I asked them out of curiosity where they got the idea for this cake.  Wouldn’t you know it, the idea came from a dessert reality TV show. I mean, if they can do the cake on TV, in 30 minutes, then it’s possible right? Needless to say, once I explained that I would need more time to design and create, not to mention a 50% non-refundable deposit before I began, they seemed to be less enthused.  Then they asked me what a conservative estimate for a cake like they described would cost. I gave a figure somewhere in the thousands. They soon ran away.

The truth behind these shows is there as far away from reality as one can get. I also think that some of these so called star chefs are nothing but a bunch of phonies who thrive on drama (in my humble opinion that is). Some of the food reality shows that now exist make it seem just about anybody can be a star and they make it look easy and glamorous. What the viewer doesn’t see is the army of apprentices and assistance’s doing all the grunt work off camera. That it can take days to create a food masterpiece and because of the time and the skills involved, the end result is going to cost A LOT of money.

The viewer never see’s the long hours of planning and executing the project, the endless rounds of drawing out the vision or planning the menu, the sore feet and tired back. Have you noticed that in these dessert shows especially, they never tell the viewer what the final price is nor how long it took to make the cake? Because it doesn’t make good TV! The truth would make people faint!

With all this ranting aside, food reality TV shows have done some good as well. It has opened up a world to the average person while educating them on different types of food and food styles, shown an insiders view into the world of the KITCHEN and an awareness to what people are eating and getting people to talk about food and question it. It has also brought professional recognition to some truly talented chefs. That part I admire.

I’m also not saying that all cooking shows are bad because if you were like me, I used to watch The Frugal Gourmet, make sand pie’s in my back yard sand box as a kid, was overly curious with regard to what went on behind the door the servers in the restaurant kept walking through and yes I do own a copy of The Joy of Cooking.

I’m just one of those overly practical, grounded realists with the optimistically attitude that people will see it for what it is. You want reality, go outside or better yet, visit the local restaurant or the neighborhood pastry shop and check out what remarkable things they are doing every single day. In my book, they are the true reality stars.

Join me for my next feature: Dessert is not meant to take off the pounds, but to take off the years. How dessert is actually good for you.