Which chefs should you follow as a culinary enthusiast?? We’ve got our top three choices below.
Chef David Chang
Ever heard of Netflix? Who am I kidding, of course you have.
David Chang photographed at Momofuku noodle bar, New York. Photograph: Neil Wilder
Alright, but have you heard of Chef David Chang? Well, if you said yes to the first question you should be saying yes to the second. That’s because Netflix features this culinary genius on their show “The Mind of a Chef,” and let me just say, this guy’s mind is insane. This Korean-American chef has made big news in recent culinary news for his innovative and highly playful style of cooking. With his restaurant group, Momofuku (or lucky peach in Japanese), Chang has changed the restaurant scene in New York City forever.
As the TV show depicts, this up-and-coming star chef is essentially a self-made man who came from practically nothing, relying only on his imagination and creative passion for cooking to push him forward. Now, he has been awarded 2 Michelin starts as of 2009, and continues to shock customers with his unconventional methods for Asian-American fusion cuisine.
With Chang’s bad-boy attitude and rather rough upbringing, he dedicates a lot of his cooking styles to overlooked ingredients that happens to be in the pantry of every university student; that’s right, Chef David Chang not only loves cooking with Instant-Ramen Noodles, but has turned it into a high-paying Michelin dish. Check out all his adventures on Netflix to find out more about this saucy character, or check out this awesome clip from the VICE Munchies.
Chef René Redzepi
Photograph courtesy of finedininglovers.com, Time Magazine
Owner of what has been ranked the best restaurant in the world, this Danish chef has ultimately changed how the culinary world looks at fine-dining. He looks at food from a near spiritual perspective. His philosophy is simple; the life of every ingredient loses value as soon as it has been taken out of its natural environment.
His solution to this? Lets just put it this way; every single piece of food you will eat at his renowned restaurant, Noma, has been picked or harvested within a short radius of the restaurant itself. Time Magazine has named him a “Locavore” as a result of this philosophy, and according to critics across the world, his signature dishes as so transparently simple, it’s as if it’s been to match the habitat in which it was taken from.
Want to find out more? Check out some of his interviews on YouTube, or delve into this amazing article featuring an interview the genius himself.
Chef Gordon Ramsay
Photograph courtesy of dailymail.co.uk
We all know this hot-headed chef from reality-drama shows such as Hell’s Kitchen or Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, but at the end of the day he remains one of the world’s most skilled chefs. Born in Scotland into a lower-middle class household, Ramsay is another chef who has build up an empire of restaurants and fame from close to nothing.
Currently hold 14 Michilin stars in total, Ramsay certainly lives a hectic lifestyle filled with adventure. The real question is where he gets all the energy. I mean, this guy really does do it all; he’s a devoted familyman, works on average three TV series at once, and has an arsenal of 32 owner or operated restaurants under his belt..
OH, and he’s a marathon and Iron Man runner! Needless to say, this top chef is larger than life. For more on Chef Ramsay and his hellfire cooking, check out any of the earlier mentioned cooking shows, the 2002 documentary “Ramsay – Trouble at the Top”, or this great Kitchen Tips Video featuring the legend himself.
3 chefs not enough for ya? Craving some more extravagant adventures of culinary masterminds?
Try researching some other renowned names of the top chef world that are bound to blow your mind.
To name a few others; Heston Blumenthal, Mario Batali, Joel Robuchon, Enena Arzak, and
Helena Rizzo.