{"id":62,"date":"2014-09-04T00:17:53","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T23:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookywook.co.uk\/blog\/?p=62"},"modified":"2020-12-11T21:28:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T21:28:53","slug":"guy-fieri-the-greatest-celebrity-chef-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookywook.co.uk\/blog\/guy-fieri-the-greatest-celebrity-chef-of-all-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Guy Fieri: the greatest celebrity chef of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"

HI I’M GUY FIERI AND WELCOME TO ANOTHER EPISODE OF DINERS, DRIVE-INS AND DIVES.<\/p>\n

With these\u00a0immortal words, Guy Fieri begins a new episode of what aficionados of the show lovingly refer to as Triple-D (to you –\u00a0Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives<\/em>).\u00a0He’s a cult figure of sorts here in the UK, though often ridiculed for his loudly expressive presenting style, monstrous haircut, and tendency to aim for the lowest common denominator when it comes to cuisine. But I believe Guy gets a bad rap and intend\u00a0to argue that Guy deserves more respect. Not only is he a fine chef in his own right, his show democratises cuisine for the masses. For this reason, as well as the comparably low quality of the alternatives, a case can be made that Guy Fieri is the greatest celebrity chef of all time.<\/p>\n

My argument for this is\u00a0simple. We’ll start with an overview of who Guy is and his rise to fame. We’ll then examine a typical episode\u00a0of his flagship show\u00a0Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives\u00a0<\/em>and see how it’s not just educational about food but also entertaining in a unique and progressive way. We’ll then conclude with a comparison of Guy as a public figure, taking a moment to reflect on the very concept of a “celebrity chef” and comparing DDD to other cookery shows such as\u00a0The Great British Bake Off<\/em> and\u00a0Masterchef<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But first, a little background about why I’m so interesting in this at all.<\/p>\n

I: How I Met Guy Fieri<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I first encountered Guy Fieri in the same way that most people reading this will have. In the UK, Freeview lets you watch a number of channels beyond the traditional 5 terrestrial ones. Most of these are unwatchable trash, but one stood out to me above all others – Food Network. On this channel, endless episodes are shown of shows where people either make, eat or talk about food. You’ve got cake shows for instance (Ace of Cakes, Last Cake Standing, Have Cake Will Travel, Amazing Wedding Cakes) which are endlessly absorbing in their own right.<\/p>\n

But two shows really stood out to me above the others: Man V.\u00a0Food<\/em> and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives<\/em>. I’d like to give\u00a0Man V.\u00a0Food<\/em> an honourable mention in this essay, because it really is very good.\u00a0MVF premiered in 2008 and DDD in 2007, so it can’t be said that Richman laid the foundations for Fieri or anything like that; but I do believe that he played an important auxiliary role in Fieri’s rise to power.<\/p>\n

If you compare and contrast MVF and DDD you’ll notice some striking similarities. Richman will travel to a couple of places in each show and try out the food there. It’ll be things like burgers and pizzas, with the emphasis being on some kind of challenge element. I.e. hottest pizza, biggest steak, most oysters, and so on. Richman caps the episodes off with an attempt at the challenge itself, which he’ll then win or lose. In DDD, Fieri also travels around to what are essentially fast-food places, but without the emphasis on challenge. As Fieri himself states, what they’re looking for in DDD is\u00a0dedication<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And this is the key difference. Richman’s\u00a0Man V. Food<\/em> show is essentially just a spectacle. You watch him struggle to eat a huge burger and either enjoy his success or feel bad when he fails. But it’s simply a performance. He’s more of an actor than a chef in this regard. And it’s worth mentioning that in later series Richman doesn’t even do the challenges himself – he began crowdsourcing them out to local food heroes\u00a0as of\u00a0Man V. Food Nation<\/em> in 2011. Fieri has never made any such compromise.<\/p>\n

Back on topic,\u00a0Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives<\/em> quickly became my all time favourite show. Not just on the Food Network, but all on television in general. Go ahead and watch an episode – I guarantee you’ll be hooked (for reasons we’ll explain in greater detail in part III). However,\u00a0it was the character of Guy himself that fascinated me most of all. But who is this bleached-hair food-loving man-troll? Let’s take a few\u00a0steps back and size him up.<\/p>\n

II: Fieri Begins<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Guy Fieri’s real name is actually Guy Ferry. I was personally disappointed when I found that out, but it turns out that he reverted to Fieri when he got married in 1995 as a way to honour his Italian immigrant grandfather. This demonstrates that Guy is a culturally aware figure, not wanting to hide his personal life but actually bring it out into the open. This honesty is also a trait that he brings into his attitude towards cooking, as we’ll go on to see.<\/p>\n

Fieri’s early history involves successfully opening a few restaurants with his business partner Steve Gruber. But it wasn’t until Fieri entered a US show entitled\u00a0Food Network Star<\/em> that his career began to skyrocket. Check out this<\/a>\u00a0clip for an edit of Guy’s appearances within the finals of the second season. Notice that even at this early stage Guy is already sporting his trademark spiked blonde hair – proving that his personal branding has remained consistent since his earliest days. Guy of course won the show and as such was granted a six-episode run by Food Network for a cooking show Guy’s Big Bite<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Food Network doesn’t show\u00a0Guy’s Big Bite<\/em> here in the UK, which is a shame. I believe UK audiences would benefit greatly from Guy’s primetime cooking show, which is now in its thirteenth season in the US. The show also contains one of my personal all time-favourite Fieri moments – Guy meets Matthew McConaughey<\/a>. And in a way, Guy Fieri is very much the Matthew McConaughey of cooking. For a long time nobody cared about him or took him seriously, but right now he’s at the top of his game and leading the way forward for others in his field.<\/p>\n

Currently, the Food Network remains focussed on\u00a0Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives<\/em>. We’ll now take a deeper look to see\u00a0what about this show makes it so culturally significant and what that tells us about Fieri’s career.<\/p>\n

III: Triple-D<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Recently, Buzzfeed wrote a surprising good article<\/a>\u00a0in which they outlined “what happens in every single “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Ghost Court also did a stellar job of that here<\/a>. I don’t want to go over the same ground as those guys, but it’s worth just sketching out the basics again – just for reference:<\/p>\n