In this episode of The Cult of Chef, producer Hannah Chouinard examines America’s love affair with chefs. With HRN regular Andrew Friedman, she dives into the history of the celebrity chef, and discusses how food media idolizes those at the top – to the detriment of industry workers.

The Cult of Chef is written, produced, and edited by Hannah Chouinard. It is hosted by the one and only Taylor Early.

Cover art for The Cult of Chef is designed by the incredible Michael Hampton. For more art, comedy, and silliness, you can find him here.

You can find more data on the food service labor force here. 

For more info on issues impacting the lives of food service workers, check out research from ROC United, here.

To read more about the emergence of the celebrity chef, grab a copy of Andrew Friedman’s book, here.

An extra special thank you to Joey Freeman, Sarah Gabrielli, Roan Shea, Safieh Moshir-Fatemi, and Alex Groher-Jick for all their help on this arc.

From the Pantry is a limited series developed by HRN’s Director of Education and Creative Development Taylor Early, focusing on illuminating HRN’s two-fold mission of educating community members in response to a changing world and cultivating the next generation of food media leaders. This series is made up of four narrative arcs researched, scripted, and produced by one of alumni fellows. Each fellow pulled concepts, ideas and conversations from HRN’s archive (the pantry) and created stories that explore the personal significance and broader cultural meaning of what they found.