Just as crucial: Ghostwriters also help chefs translate complex recipes for restaurant kitchens into relatively easy-to-prepare ones for home cooks. And for what it's worth, many ghostwriters don't have to hide their identities: These days, celebrity chefs often give credit where it's due and share billing on a cookbook. It's no longer good enough for some celebrity chefs to be considered rock-star equivalents. Increasingly, chefs are taking their show on tour. Among those who have traveled the country with a live act—often, a cooking demonstration combined with a question-and-answer session—are Guy Fieri, Anthony Bourdain and Alton Brown.
Chefs say it's all in good fun, but there's also a clear financial incentive, since the gigs can pay up to $100,000, according to Allen Salkin, author of "From Scratch: Inside the Food Network." And there's not a lot of effort involved, Salkin adds: "You fly in, do a cooking demo, sign a few cookbooks, and you're out in a few hours. It's easy money."Still, what kind of a "performance" can a chef deliver? Some attendees of these shows say the chefs might be better off staying in the kitchen.
"It just went on too long," carped one ticket-buyer in an online forum about an Alton Brown show. And perhaps because many chefs are not entertainers by trade, it's perhaps not a surprise to hear of the occasional mishap. In a 2009 appearance at the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Paula Deen accidentally dropped her drawers. Celebrity chefs may often be associated with the finer things in life—as in vintage Champagne, poached lobster and Belgian chocolate. But these days, chefs frequently lend their names to more pedestrian products and companies.