Ive always hoped Chopped would telegraph our enormous affection and love and admiration for chefs and food, but at the same time, we are inflicting extraordinary cruelty on them. – Ted Allen
Im a home cook and love to read about food, but Im not trained as a chef. Im just really into cooking and passionate about it. – Ted Allen
Not to sound too much like Christopher Guest in Waiting for Guffman, but on Thanksgiving youre putting on a show! – Ted Allen
I think what I do differently from a lot of TV chefs is that I break down barriers and make fine food more accessible to the regular person, who might be intimidated. I try hard, particularly with wine, to make it not intimidating. Its sort of a teaching job. – Ted Allen
The Food Network was just starting in New York, and I was getting lots of attention from Mesa Grill. They had no money, so if you couldnt get there by subway, you couldnt be on. It wasnt like TV was something I really wanted to do – but I knew it would be great publicity for my restaurants. – Bobby Flay