By
JULIETTE ROSSANT 
You might think that an author with 11 books under the belt would not have much to gripe about.
Recently, however,
Michael Ruhlman has been griping aloud about Celebrity Chefs and
Wikipedia-- and managed to work Superchefblog into the mix.
In an article entitled "
The Meaning of Celebrity," he frumps:
What exactly are the criteria for being a celebrity chef? Here’s the wikipedia definition (it’s heavily reliant on the work of Juliette Rossant, citing her -- she even has her own wikipedia page; sadly I do not — as well as her book called Superchef [sic] and her blog of that name… interesting… I wonder why it doesn’t cite, say, the work of Page and Dornenberg who wrote Becoming a Chef, the first book that meaningfully addressed chefs as they moved into the realm of celebrity… hmmm, a bit of a marketing effort from the camp of Ms. Rossant?).
He gripes about the inclusion of "
super chefs" in Wikipedia, about the
author listing, and about mention of this online magazine.
Don't get so worked up, Michael. Here's some constructive advice:
- On the bright side, with just a little original contribution of your own, you too might get your piece of turf in Wikipedia.
- You can now read intelligently about Wikipedia and how it works in newly published articles in The New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly.
Meanwhile, why gripe, when your name is on what is arguably the best cookbook of the past decade, Thomas Keller's masterpiece The French Laundy Cookbook?
- Besides, you've got a 12th book coming out this fall. (OK, so it's a rehash of work with Thomas Keller: it's still another notch in your belt.)
Bottom line is that life just isn't that bad for you.
Meantime, why not go back and take another look at the Introduction to
Super Chef (available online in
Fast Magazine)? No disrespect to Page and Dornenberg, but people have become chefs for a long time now. Even
Escoffier (if not
Careme) was something of a celebrity chef. What is new in the field are "super chefs."
Take
Mario Batali as an example. He isn't hot these days because of Media and ensuant Celebrity: he's been on the Food Network for years. It's his recent business deals with partners like
NASCAR that are getting him into mass media print --
Forbes,
TIME,
Newsweek, and
Life (see
previous articles) -- as well as the expansion of his restaurant empire outside of New York. That's where the action is. Mario became a chef a long time ago: what is exciting is that Mario is about to become a super chef.
(
Disclaimer: Michael used to consult on occasion with Superchefblog for some of his articles, particularly on the topic of "
chef branding." He wrote, "[I] have been reading your book Super Chef [sic], which is fascinating, am just through the
English section." He even cited
Super Chef and quoted the book's author for at least one article in
Gulf Connoisseur [never seen the article]. Then, Superchefblog reviewed
Cooking Under Fire (see
previous article). He emailed to contend with the review in a pleasant exchange which ended abruptly in a final email that opened like this: "OK, Shithead..." What to do? Well, as any writer knows, you can please them all, nor even some all of the time.)
Related news:
New YorkerPrevious articles:
Mario Batali on SuperchefblogCooking Under Fire: Already Over Done?[
Citations]
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