Comments on: The Forbes Top 10 Richest Celebrity Chef List (Be Prepared to Cry)

By: ron

ron — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:15:06 +0000

First of all, this list can’t possibly be correct, because it makes no mention of Lidia Bastianich….. who has a cooking empire in partnership with Mario Batali!
As for Flay being worth as much as Bourdain, it is actually Bourdain who should be insulted because Anthony Bourdain is more established and respected in the cooking world than Flay will ever be.

By: Jonny & Amy

Jonny & Amy — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:50:53 +0000

WELL SAID, Dennis! Your time to shine will come, I can feel it. Maybe you could grow a large pair of perky boobs, give some cleavage and that would help?

By: Dennis

Dennis — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:06:07 +0000

It’s amazing just how stupid America can be these days! Kill someone or act like you just left the wackie farm and shazammmm………..you’re an instant millionaire!
Not to rain on the parade but there are a lot more people claiming to be chefs than Rachel Ray on TV these days!
I have significant credentials and have trained with some of the best……………I’m a pastry chef……….maintained a 4.0GPA, have extensive after training in specialty fields such as sugar pulling, chocolate and other areas. These people are getting paid more in a year than I’ll ever see in a lifetime and I know I can out perform any one of these people on my worst day!
It would be nice if America could return to sound business principles and reward people on effort and not what color you dye your hair or who you know!!!

By: Larry Sibley

Larry Sibley — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:44:04 +0000

Calling Rachael Ray a chef is like calling Oprah Winfrey a journalist.

By: JMJ

JMJ — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:46:05 +0000

I agree with everyone as far as RR. She should not be making that much money. I have been a big fan of Foodnetwork for a long time……until the only chefs I saw were Rachel, Giada and Paula. They are on every other hour. I think Foodnetwork has lost focus…….you have chefs that are the best on the planet….including Mario, Emeril, Tyler, and Ming Tsai. I don’t know what happened with Mario and Emeril but Tyler is an awesome chef. Now they have him hosting a Food Truck Race. That is ridiculous. If I was Tyler I wouldnt feel too good. And as far as Ming…….The Next Iron Chef, is nothing but a shaft! Ming should have won that hands down. Instead he lost to NOBODY’S. Who ever is in charge of Foodnetwork should be fired!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s all BS.

By: lucas

lucas — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 14:44:16 +0000

Basically what this list says is that these people are marketable as hell. Rachael Ray’s money comes from cheap merchandise that has her name stamped on it. Don’t put any value into this list. Chefs know who the best culinary talents are. 6 of them are respectable and industry tested . (Basically subtract the Food Network faction). The two things I most enjoyed about Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” were his obvious hate for Emeril and a quote.
“Once you last here 6 months and show up on time every day then we can talk about chile paste and lemongrass. Until then I have 4 words for you: shut the f*ck up.”

By: JJ

JJ — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:47:59 +0000

admin,

You didn’t “say” good american/bad american, but you alluded to it in your reply to Helen and to Craig. Just own it and move on, don’t be so defensive. Saying, “this american knows good food so please don’t lump me into her crappy category!!!” is separating yourself from the neaderthal-Americans who obviously aren’t as evolved as Your Highness. What.Ever. I laugh reading that you couldn’t stop yourself from watching her in 2008 because she was everywhere. Oh so she’s a Martian invading your tv set, now? You remind me of the wannabee Mean Girls…can’t stand the girl but can’t stay away from the gross gossip talk. I for one do not even talk about ppl I don’t like; it’s toxic. And before you think I’m president of the Rachael Ray fan club, I ASSURE you that I am not even a member. I find her annoying at times (many), but engaging at times as well. And unless your family owns a home at Versaille, I highly doubt your own mother made better food than RR does so stop with the snobbery. Maybe your British husband is rubbing off on you. Most Americans like RR because she does cook food like Mom made; anything wrong w/ that??! With women working an average of 50 hr weeks (60 hrs for those whose husbands were layed off during 2008-2010), maybe they’re too tired to cook Coq Au Vin after helping Timmy & Jimmy w/ homework, running to parent-teacher conferences, laundry, housework, food shopping, etc.
Like someone said earlier, every industry has a gripe. Dr. Phil makes more than most doctors. Who cares? Don’t be a hater your whole life.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:50:18 +0000

“Lidia for the MILF crowd”

CLASSIC! Thanks for the laugh. How did I put myself in the “good American” category and anyone in the “bad American” category? I never once said that anyone was a bad American… in fact the word American doesn’t exist in that post. So please don’t try and put words in my mouth (or words on my post?) I didn’t say that Rachel Ray doesn’t/didn’t work hard for where she is today – I do have problems with what she delivers to America. It’s my opinion. It was my opinion, actually. I wrote that post almost 2 years ago. At that time I felt very confused about why she was on a list of “top 5 riches chefs” when she isn’t a chef. And I felt a bit frustrated that the chefs that there was such a huge disparity between what she made and what everyone else on the list made. I personally feel that it should be a bit more even on the playing field. RR doesn’t call herself a chef – can the media please stop!? She’s a TV personality who tries to cook. To some it may seem like stupid semantics but to me (and many who are trained chefs who worked endless hours getting their ass whooped on the line, sweating their way up to become head chef) it’s more than that.

And I don’t watch her. At all. But in 2008 (when this post was written), it was difficult to get away. In fact, I’d think Rachel herself would say that ’08 was the year of RR oversaturation. Maybe that’s why she made $18 mill?

anyways, i really appreciated your comment and we prob. have more in common than not. but please don’t bring in “good/bad American” crap into this! so irritating! (my point was that people in the school system should make WAY more for what they do-that was my point).

i agree w/ yan/tsai – that’s why PBS rocks.

By: Nichevo

Nichevo — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:33:34 +0000

Do what you like, but please spare us the trashing of “bad Americans” and putting yourself in the “good Americans” category. I kowtow to the high artists like everybody else, but if you ran your kitchen at home like the Iron Chefs, with all the waste, the off-screen prep, the kitchen slaveys, and the oh-I-just-happen-to-have-a-whole-foie-gras and-a-pound-of-truffles-and-a-little-gold-leaf-on-hand-right-among-the-other-staples-just-in-case-this-consomme-fails-to-wow-them-by-itself, well, a) you’d be bankrupt, b) you’d need a new house’s worth of room for the kitchen, another for the larder, and a third for the staff, and c) you’d probably just have it done for you. And d) probably it’d be Heart Attack City anyway.

There’s lots of room between Chef Sakai and Rachel Ray. What do they have in common (besides the fact that his mole is about the size of one of her breasts)? AFAIK, nobody gave them anything, and they both got to where they are due to a mixture of hard work, talent and luck.

I find RR’s affect abrasive too. But if she is too happy, what does that say about me? I am not so misanthropic as to recommend my condition to the human race at large. And yes, she takes shortcuts I do not like. But I am not seeing, on any of these shows, too much attention to things like saving the scraps for stock. Not glorious or camera-ready enough perhaps. But that is TV for you.

If you don’t like her, don’t watch her. Even among kitchen sluts there’s always Giada, or I suppose Lidia for the MILF crowd. And for the record, those crazy orange-handled Australian-made knives – they work!

Personally what I would like is more Martin Yan, Ming Tsai type stuff – how to manageably cook reasonably authentic Asian cuisine in one’s home. Guess I should whine and cry that they haven’t found a Chinese chef with boobs yet.

By: marc

marc — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:09:56 +0000

My thoughts on this list are as following ,
They`ve worked for it , let them enjoy whatever they have .
Anthony and Gordon you should be paid more for what you do , you guys are not just CHEFS but entertainers as well.
Never mind R.R , her earning potential is not like the good CHEFS on the list , they have restaurants and other revenue bearing interests to keep them going .