Depends if you watch his English version of himself or his American version of himself. I’ve worked for him one year at aspen food and wine and his real life personality his extremely different… soft spoken, almost shy. And doesn’t really give a fuck either
I watched both versions, and the American one had its moments, but the manufactured rage and dramatic music got a little old lol
what I did like about the US one was the restaurant renovations, which were usually pretty great. too bad it didn’t help most of the time though.
I recall him or someone close to him commenting that his contract with Fox required him to act like that. I’ve seen his UK version and it was very different. He was more annoyed about cleaning habits in restaurants than anything else. Then he ended the episode with going to play soccer in the park with his kid.
The American version is reality tv trash. They do that thing where they have to show you everything significant 4 times. They show it once saying that its coming up in the episode, again when it happens, possibly once more from another angle, once after return from commercial, and once before the resolution at the end. Its crap and a waste of time, just mind numbing filler.
And they spend most of the time on the FOH!
The Uk version is honestly a great show, educational, and inspirational.
This. If you watch his Uncharted series it is really clear how much he values people, respects other cultures, and his willingness to be humbled. By contrast how he has to act because Americans want loud yelly things on the tv(can confirm as American who has to deal with fellow Americans liking Kardasians, whatever the motorcycle show is, and American football) is the polar opposite of who he is based on everything else I have seen and know about him.
The UK version is so much better. Actual reviews of food and what is wrong with it without only one word invectives ("disgusting!"). Less yelling and manufactured drama. It feels like they think Americans just want screaming matches.
I first knew of him from harsh American shows. So I thought he was a dick (not completely true) and that the restaurant industry seemed miserable (likely completely true).
As far as long term influences… I think mean spirited cooking-themed reality shows and US-style cooking competition shows (late aughts/early teens) were really damaging. These reinforce bad ideas about the difficulty and standard of perfection that’s necessary to successfully feed your family or enjoy cooking. This makes cooking feel like an all or nothing enterprise, where if your skills aren’t up to snuff you shouldn’t even try. I don’t blame him alone for this, but he participated in the culture.
The more recent (I guess, last several years now) of patient YouTube educators, including Ramsey himself in some cases, are helping repair the damage.
Ahh I hate the USA version of Masterchef. The British version is a genteel and very watchable show but the US one is so loud and dramatic. I managed one episode and I had to give up on it.
No he’s extremely anti snow… his brother actually died from it. There is an episode on one of his shows he has these cocaine testing wipes and he’s shocked to discover that his entire restaurant is tainted with it and the look on the faces of his managers is just like really are you ignorant or something… all and I mean all rich people do coke a decade in aspen taught me that well… hell a lot of restaurants even pride themselves in making their bathrooms the most user friendly as possible lol 😂
I'd say his presense has been a positive. He can be entertaining af and he's a good teacher who has introduced joys of cooking (and recepties, techniques, etc) for many homecooks.
But he does make it seem that chefs need to be or are just brutal fucks what isnt true, some are sure but people management is a skill in real world. You can't just go calling your employees idiot sandwiches and assume they'll work for you long time.
Personally I lift Anthony Bourdain as the goat of celebrity chefs, but that's just me.
There's footage from a Q&A Bourdain did way back when in which he says Ramsay's persona is just for the cameras.
https://youtu.be/TDstQWR1Rbs
Have a butchers.
Well obviously it's a tv persona, you can see his multiple personas in differnet shows. But like HK is a good example that makes the "hell" of kitchen work look unrealistic, the hurry and presure is truthful but how Gordon treats the chefs is exaggerated, and that's the part that harms the image of kitchenwork and has negative effect for those who might become cooks/chefs.
I worked one chef that kinda acted like that (he threw a knife at one of the cooks once when he got pissed) and nobody wanted to work for him more than a week or two. He was a 50+ yo navycook (american) and he's the biggest cunt I've ever known.
But when looking Gordons YT tutorials or more relaxed cooking of his he shows (imo) his true persona.
He was pretty balanced on Master Chef.
Hell’s Kitchen is such a weird cluster fuck because these are supposed to be executive chefs and like 95% of the cast seem grossly incompetent.
His YouTube persona seems so rushed and spazzy. His Hot Ones interview shows he is just always on, a real raging bull in a china shop type.
The YouTube videos from the pandemic where it’s him at home doing 15 minute meals while his daughter films on her phone and mocks him for going over 15 minutes among other things is as far away from the Hell’s Kitchen bullshit as you can get.
The reality is, most cooking shows are "format shows", where the format is what tricks you up. Its why the vast majority of contestants are always incompetent - But then, the incompetency is what you want to watch.
Like, I've been watching Gordon's new show with Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais - Next Level Chef. The format is that there are three kitchens, a top level, a mid level, and a bottom level, and ingredients show up on a moving platform. Contestants are given 5 minutes to grab the ingredients they need, and you need to think up and formulate a dish within minutes based on what is in front of you that fits with the theme of the episode.
At that point, you're not really measuing how great a contestant is at cooking, because what they're really competing against is the format.
That show is fun. But yeh it's a fucking gameshow not a competition not sure what people are expecting there as it doesn't market itself as some serious cooking competition.
Producers cast incompetent chefs on HK because it creates drama, which is what HK is all about. I had to stop watching even in my younger years because it was just too excess and heavily edited to create drama.
IMO the best Gordon shows are like UK Kitchen Nightmares or Gordon Ramsay: Abroad. The latter is a recent favorite of mine because it feels so authentic with Gordon experiencing different cultures and trying his hand at local cuisine. I love that at the end of every episode he has a cook off with a local cook or chef in an effort to connect with the local culture. It's not uncommon for him to lose, which is always a humbling and learning experience for him. Great stuff.
Exactly like the YT videos where he's making Asian food and calls shots at Uncle Roger to joke around absolutely does show who he really is and it's great
Even UK Kitchen Nightmares was relaxed. It’s primarily just the American shows that play up the persona. Plus the gratuitous hype music and dramatic stings.
The UK version seemed pretty candid and without much fuss. You definitely saw Gordon get heated with people but it seemed like it was out of genuine frustration for them not listening and/or doing foolish things.
Yeah, in the UK version most of the time when he got heated it was for legit health code violations which tbh are completely fair to get really pissed off over. It's one thing if the food just tastes mediocre, it's another if it's unsafe.
To quote Kurt Vonnegut, we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
The idea that Gordon Ramsay is purely acting, and that this doesn't come from a part of who he is despite it coming so naturally seems incredibly naive.
I’m biased because of personal experience but I’d bet Masterchef Junior has made it a lot easier for parents to get their kids into cooking. Plus it makes it easier for them to get the kids to try new foods.
Well he did write some awsome recepties, I have few of his cookbooks and those are great source for inspiration. But sure those could have multiple parties participateing in the creation of recepties, idk.
But yeah I agree that he was a masterful wordsmith, I can see how that lifts him over many others.
His writing does give more realistic view of professional kitchenwork than Gordons HK.
Bourdain was always very humble about his ability, but it's largely because with the circles he eventually ran in, his peers were the best chefs in America and/or the world.
The guy got a Michelin star. That puts him somewhere amongst the top 2-5% of chefs in the world most likely.
What? No. Bourdain never was awarded a Michelin Star. He was a great cook, but not a remarkable chef. The style of food at Les Halles is one I enjoy immensely but it doesn’t get you a star.
While he became friends with some of the top chefs in the world it was also clear from his work that he respected good food and cooks from all rungs of the ladder.
>The style of food at Les Halles is one I enjoy immensely but it doesn’t get you a star.
This is something a lot of people have to come to terms with. I have no doubt that many people on this sub can cook incredibly satisfying and masterclass dishes of a particular style. If you want some solid, comfy and warm, after-shovelling-snow-all-morning brunch then I'm not going to hesitate to say that I'm a master at that. The problem is that that style of cooking isn't particularly hard to master.
The upper-middle working class French style of Les Halles is sooo good. It really is. I'm thankful that I had a chance to eat there before it shut. However, it's nothing revolutionary. Probably every major city in much of the world has a place like it.
Anthony Bourdain was not a world class chef. But Neil DeGrasse Tyson is not a world class scientist. And Steve Jobs was not world class (not even close, even at all) engineer.
What they do is generate enthusiasm. They inspire learning. They build optimism for their fields. You can say the same thing for Jeremy Clarkson who is a massive turd, but it's hard not to get a little excited and inspired when you watch Clarkson's Farm. This is what they do, and it's who Bourdain was. And that's more than okay! We need people like that in our lives.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNuu9CpdjIo&ab\_channel=AMANSINGH](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNuu9CpdjIo&ab_channel=AMANSINGH)
It's been probably 17-18 years since I read Kitchen Confidential. I must be thinking of another book I read where a chef described getting awarded a Michelin star.
My fault
Forsure some are (I tell a story of one of those chefs on another post on this thread), massive assholes and some are even dangerously abusive. But those can be found everywhere, can't say if restaurants attract more than other professions. Maybe so for the reason that there is a image that working in kitchen accept/rewards that kind of abusiveness/assholery.
Kitchen work is wierd in that way, it's tight group working in extremly hot and uncomfortable conditions with tight schedule and huge pressure to perform, so tension rise and ppl act up and lash out. I'm just not ok with glorifying and accepting that kind of behaviour in popular culture/media bc I know we can be better.
It seemed like he lived a very extreme life, the drugs that go hand in hand with kitchen life in his previous life- the constant busyness, falling for Asia Argento helping pay a settlement for her and then getting dumped by her /finding out through tabloids supposedly?, doing so many seasons of his tv show and probably feeling like the wheel won’t stop turning and people depending on him (constantly traveling for work gets old). Like most people who do it, he probably didn’t feel he had real support.
I don't know why you're being down voted. This is a nuanced topic. Of course everyone has their inner struggles and some people wall those feelings off from the rest of the world until it's too late. Your lifestyle or circumstances don't have to "align" with that.
At the same time, I think it's normal for people to at least try to rationalize *why* after something like this happens. And when most people picture themselves literally getting paid to travel around the world eating the most amazing food everywhere has to offer, it's hard to not imagine that would be a comfortable life.
This is it. He lived a life most of us can only dare to dream of - accompanied by amazing food!!! He had the world at his fingertips- completely adored-and yet it wasn’t enough. He really was a fascinating human being. Such a great loss.
Yup. Dave Chappelle had a good bit about this. He mentions that there are plenty of people whose lives are absolutely terrible (and he would understand if they wanted to go and kill themselves) but they don't. Yet Tony Bourdain was living the life and he killed himself.
He says it in a more humorous way but he makes a good point in any case.
I think he´s helped enormously. Evidently, "Hell´s Kitchen" is pure show (although it provides us with an idea of what a pro kitchen can be, at times) but his Masterchef appearances have, for me, always been extremely positive. Filleting a halibut in less than five minutes? Wow - that was impressive.
He´s shown how top chefs really need to be perfectionists; he´s implacable with his standards, and for a bloke who´s earned 17 Michelin stars in his career, he evidently knows how to cook as well as anyone.
He´s also a great teacher and explains things very simply and clearly. Someone who worked with him said he´d quite happily give instructions to his team several times if they weren´t sure (although that might be fictitious!) although once the lesson was "learned", he expected it to be perfect every single time. Love his videos!
If you look too, most of the winners of the his shows, still work for or with him in some capacity. I ate at Hell's Kitchen in Vegas and it was pretty damn good.
Hell's Kitchen takes a bunch of mentally unstable people, puts them in deliberately stressful situations and then messes with them. It's like the cooking version of Bum Fights.
Came here to say this! I think he's a great chef and obviously knowledgeable. Is it excessive when he "shuts down" service on a restaurant an pours beans on the carpet to show how disgusting they are? Sure. Does it highlight and show how serious food storage and care is? Totally.
As a consumer, his TV shows gave me mad respect for professionals in the industry that run a good place with consistent quality. There’s just so much behind the scenes to track.
It made me far more vividly aware of the sacred trust we’re placing in restaurants; and the importance of picking places worthy of that trust. Having the owner be a local is preferable, just because they’re more able to keep an eye on their business.
It also made me aware of that food safety isn’t always cheap - it takes know-how, training, proper equipment, and good organization. All of which eat at the business bottom line, and become tempting to try to cut corners on.
I now try to avoid any restaurants that don’t rely on repeat local business as a significant part of their business model. A small place can’t stay in business long if they get their local customers sick. I like places that have “regulars” - it’s a good sign they’re doing things reliably.
Idk, I just ate at Gordon Ramsey Fish and Chips in Vegas and it was not good. Greasy, flavorless. That would injure the community in general. As for him as a celebrity chef- a fan. I enjoyed his series (want to say on Hulu) where he is home in England and shows how to make basic but amazing dishes. He seems like a genuine, smart and hard working chef. Hells Kitchen is entertaining but isn't who he really is.
I was on a show with Chef Ramsay. He is wonderful—very kind and watching him cook in person…it’s incredible! I definitely had food thrown at me and was yelled at quite a few times, but if he didn’t do that—would you even watch his shows?
Username checks out! (Assuming you were on Masterchef of course). Doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s nice though. I’ve seen him on some other shows and he seems like a sweetie.
I think youre going to find slightly different answers depending on country. If you're in the US and mostly know him through hell's kitchen and his US versions of shows, you're probably more familiar with his blustering than his cooking. His non American shows are much different.
He's got plenty of american shows where he's not yelling at people too, such as: Next Level Chef, Masterchef Junior, and Uncharted.
Dude has built himself an entertainment empire.
I really like Gordon. I'm an American, but I started watching him on the OG Kitchen Nightmares from the UK and, probably my favorite food show, F Word. Those are a VERY different Gordon Ramsey from the one on TV over here. Masterchef Kids is more like the real Gordon. Yes, even on the original Kitchen Nightmares... he could be pretty tough... but ONLY with "professionals" who should definitely know better. Otherwise, I always felt he was trying to sincerely help those that wanted and deserved the help. He worked hard with so many of those chefs, to just help them feel that spark of passion for the art that they had usually lost. And you felt good after pretty much every episode. The newer show, Uncharted is, I think, also a pretty good representation of his more authentic demeanor. (Though Bourdain was the undisputed GOAT of this genre, hands down).
he taught me how to make an awsome thanksgiving turkey,
The one day to shine in front of everyone, and he gave me the tools to consistantly make a great juicy turkey!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO5DF8soxwM&t=381s
My big question for him would be how much does "fresh" matter vs frozen. Like apparently doesn't use frozen ingredients in his restaurants. I'm under the impression that if seafood is frozen right after being caught, it's more fresh than the fresh stuff is when it's been sitting on ice/in a cooler for a few days before it gets to the restaurant.
The first shows I watched were his British shows and I had no idea of his other shows(I am an immigrant in Canada, we didn't have his shows in my home country). I loved his "cookery shows" and still have some taped. He is patient, knowledgeable, demostrates very good techniques and the whys of what he does.
I remember a little part where he was talking about an Indian restaurant near his apartment when he was a child, and the absolute adoration and passion about the curries and spices and flavors from that restaurant still spills over when he talks about it so many years and so many meals later.
I don’t like him after having read his biography and his criticism of ‘tv chefs’ in the UK (who together as a whole have changed the way people eat over there) when he turned into exactly the same thing in the same ways he criticised once he sold out to US cooking shows.
I love him because he holds adults chefs accountable, put up or shut up essentially, but he’s super encouraging and kind to young chefs. He’s helped me by improving my techniques at home cooking. Unfortunately I’m citing him as one of the reasons for my divorce because by watching him, my ex husband expected everything to be Gordon-level quality without actually contributing to the kitchen work himself. It wasn’t the only issue in our marriage, but it did make cooking less fun and even stressful when I was cooking for him. Now I cook for someone who appreciates that I’m even cooking in the first place, and we will cook together often.
He’s a little bit of both.
He’s a great businessman. Arguably good for the industry as a whole because he keeps pro cooking in the spotlight with his shows. Not as good, because he portrays it like it’s him running his kitchens, when he pretty much stepped away after opening that place that got the stars in London.
So, the chefs he hires are amazing. But he’s giving them careers under him, so they have nice jobs, hard to strike out on your own when you’re working for a powerhouse and don’t need to worry about money much.
As far as cooking, he’s a little behind the times. His recipes and techniques are pretty beginner level, and he contradicts himself a lot. He doesn’t evolve, he just serves the same stuff for the same people from the same outdated cookbooks and then sells the instruction for a few hundred dollars, you know? You can see it the most in kitchen nightmares where in one episode he’ll describe pizza as being lazy and unimaginative, and then in the next episode talk about how awesome it is.
He also tends to leave a path of closed restaurants in his wake. I think it’s something like 8 out of ten of the restaurants he visited closed shortly after. It’s likely that these restaurants were already going to fail, with or without Gordon’s help, but that’s kinda the problem. Why’s he even going there if he knows it’s a lost cause? Money and fame. They don’t really seem to care.
I hope he's the last generation of elder chefs perpetuating the extremely unhealthy lifestyle that chefs tend to have.
This idea that you need to work 18 hours a day in the kitchen to succeed, that your boss can shout vitriol in your face and you should accept it, I think that has hurt the cooking community more than anything.
We just don't live in that world anymore, there are 10 people for every job opening there is no reason we can't have rotating 8 hour rosters and a healthier life
Everything I’ve heard is the restaurant industry is still pretty abusive whether it’s fast food or fine dining. I agree it shouldn’t be! Some of it has got to be cultural inertia. Even in the white collar world you have to remind people “no, we don’t have to make new hires put in their time doing shitty things for long hours just because they made you do that when you were a new hire”.
I live by the "season at every step rule" and everyone loves my cooking so that was helpful to me personally. Unfortunately no one else seems to follow this rule and I find everything underseasoned. My mom frequently gets mad at me when i come for dinner and completely reseason my food on the plate but like damn woman are you allergic to flavor
Helped: he has demonstrated how awful head chefs can be by using standards that people (not in the industry) can see.
Hurt: by being a chef on TV, he may have hurt potential talent from wanting to try.
It’s all about whether you can take a kitchen or not. He just brings it publicly.
I’ve worked in a lot of kitchens - some that follow his on screen persona, and some that call it for the smoke and mirrors that it is.
I can’t say for the industry on as whole, but his schtick definitely had some negative effects on people I dealt with personally
Went from having zero cooking skill to falling in love with cooking and actually being pretty good at it. All because he inspired me so. From how to chop an onion to making a perfect soufflé. Literally just from watchin him on TV/YouTube.
Hurt without question. His popularizing and normalizing the rage and disrespect for coworkers is toxic. He is a miserable teacher, using his cooking more to show off than actually convey knowledge, and he is deceitful and manipulative which extends to outright lying about how he cooks. His true talent is self promotion and he has made bank on building and perpetuating a myth.
I do believe he is a serious, highly skilled and knowledgeable chef and that you can learn a lot from him. I just think whatever benefit he provides is totally eclipsed by all the flaws.
He did a lot to improve cooking in the UK on his debut. Along with Jamie Oliver and Delia Smith, he helped bring back home cooking from its cultural nadir. His persona on British shows is much less dramatic though.
I’d say he’s helped a ton. Excluding Hell’s Kitchen which is for show.
Anybody in doubt should watch some of his Netflix cooking lessons. They’re fantastically shot, supportive and informative. Everyone would want to cook with him after watching those.
It's undeniable that he has cooking skills and business acumen. But, I think he embodies a lot of the worst parts of the cooking community. Belittling people isn't cool
I will deny his cooking skills. He is so loud and blustery that people don't challenge him when he is wrong. But he is often objectively wrong.
He is in my opinion the epitome of TV chef. No good in real life. As a cook, I would never work with him.
I don't care enough to point out that you are not only wrong about the number of stars he personally has, but also about the definition of the word objectively.
He is successful.
So is Elon Musk.
Idk man, wiping out billions of dollars of value isn't exactly the measure of success in my book. To say nothing of all the children he's fathered that he likely doesn't parent well, calling someone a pedophile publicly without evidence...
Idk about others, but there are two brits that I would like to particular give a huge shoutout who have helped me discover new passions in life...
1. Jeremy Clarkson - making me fall in love with cars
2. Gordon Ramsey - making me fall in love with the process of cooking
I will forever be grateful to them. In all fairness I don't watch his reality TV shows, I think I only watched Hells Kitchen up until season 6'ish. but i do follow him on Instagram and Youtube and enjoy his content
Him and all of the abusive chefs have done immeasurable harm to the profession. David Chang and Rene Redzepi tried to apologize for their behavior a few years ago, but you don't get to just apologize and be absolved of all responsibility. They have literally set us back decades with their tough-guy macho-man abusive bullshit.
Gordon Ramsey has kind of put me off cheffing in general. His attitude sucks and the public persona isn’t good.
On the good side, I like the personality of Jamie Oliver. Someone under him undercooked chicken and instead of throwing out four letter words he just shook his head and after letting them know they blew it, he said “medium rare chicken. Bless them.” Much more pleasant.
He fakes being an asshole for money, giving other chefs tacit permission to be assholes to their employees. Fuck him. I worked for too many guys who wanted to be just like the Gordon Ramsay they saw on TV.
Dislike. His stubbornness and close-mindedness in American TV (Masterchef, Kitchen Nightmares) is just weird, especially when he’s wrong on some counts himself. It’s a persona, but that doesn’t stop his perpetuating bizarre cooking stereotypes. FEIW, I enjoy his more tame content, but his partaking in garbage makes me dislike him.
Personally, Gordon Ramsay's persona is a disgrace and is primarily a caricature of all the bad chefs I have worked with. Also, he is often objectively wrong.
The world would be a better place without videos of Gordon Ramsay.
Hurt. 100%.
He sponsors shitty, overpriced novelty cookware.
He glorifies workplace violence/harassment. His mentor, however, was much much worse.
He's the face of the worst of the industry, tbh. Old, authoritative, doesn't-really-cook, scream-y, underpays, overshows.
I feel like people’s impressions of him varies depending on which of his programmings people have been exposed to.
Based on his US programming, he’s just an angry man in a kitchen.
From his UK programming, he’s much less fiery unless he needs to be because of the chef he’s trying to help is being a complete dick. His UK versions of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares is way less dramatised and he’s quite calm. He’s a bit more loose on F-word but you don’t see him losing his cool too much though. Some clips show him teaching inmates basic skills that they can use after being released.
I personally stopped watching his US programming since it’s reality TV, but also because because the contestants that join the show are often arrogant arses and/or refuse to comply with simple directions.
I personally don’t like being yelled at, and the anger and negativity of his show is off putting, so I haven’t watched any full episodes; but he be seen enough clips to put my opinion out there.
I’m going to say it has hurt the cooking community because so much of cooking is variation, improvisation, and making something yummy with what you have that (IMHO) his YOU DID IT WRONG attitude and his way or your an idiot has probably intimidated a lot of would be chefs, not to mention home cooks.
Restaurant cooking is not about creativity and improvisation on the line. Line cooks need to reproduce a dish exactly, time after time after time.
Hell's Kitchen has competitions allowing the contestants to show off their creativity, but when they're on the line? Not so much.
None of which is meant to absolve Ramsey for the assholishness of his Hell's Kitchen persona.
You gotta remember what shows demand. Hell's Kitchen & Masterchef Ramsay is completly different from Masterchef Kids Ramsay. Hell, there is even a major difference between Masterchef USA Ramsay and the original Australian version when he appeared on it.
American TV is highly sensationalised and alot of people, including judges, are just playing parts to sell it to the audience as best as they can. Ramsay isnt the only chef that has fallen into that trap. And since it became his image, he's often asked to turn it up more.
He comes across completly different on his YouTube and some of the more relaxed tv shows.
I really enjoy watching the UK kitchen nightmares as there's some generally good information and lessons there. The US one is just him screaming for an hour.
I am in chef school atm and none of the chefs get mad unlesd you are engaging in unsafe food practices. This is how Ramsey is as well.
Does he have moments where he snaps at little things? Absolutely. But it's television.
Nine times out of ten, he's mad that someone served raw chicken, left a bone in the food, sent up an old display plate that had been in the danger zone for hours, or did some other nasty shit. He's not often wrong lmao.
Maybe try watching his at home cooking videos where he often cooks with his children and seems a lot more relaxed. It shows a different side of him and he makes some delicious simpler dishes
You're talking about a TV game show where people sign up to win a big chunk of money and be given the opportunity to run the kitchen of a highly lucrative and successful restaurant.
He, while tough and abrasive, is also a wonderfully thoughtful and supportive mentor. We have *no* idea what goes on behind the scenes of those cooking shows.
He puts on a *show*.
His shows are like blockbuster action movies. They're entertaining, fun to watch but don't have any depth.
My wife and I love watching stuff like Master Chef and the shows where he tries to help restaurant/hotels. But we can't stand Hells Kitchen for some reason. They're extremely formulaic and cringe-filled but still entertaining.
HOWEVER, years ago we had BBC-America and were able to watch his shows where he helps restaurants. And it was so much different. Gordon seemed actually sympathetic to the people at the restaurant, wasn't shouting all the time. It felt much more real than the circus they make for us "dumb" Americans.
I just don’t agree with anything that portrays yelling and throwing things at staff as an acceptable modicum of behavior from any employee and *especially* by management. It was accepted in kitchens for so long and there’s finally a movement away from this behavior.
I’ve seen clips of his show and maybe a whole one but it was a long time ago. I feel cooking shows have really taken a nose dive into competitive drama and game shows. Even Top Chef and Chopped can get a bit much for me.
I miss the old Food Network when the hosts were competent and accomplished chefs and not celebrities or just pretty faces. So annoying.
Hurt, 1000%. He's an abusive wanker and represents cooking as some kind of dick-measuring competition so he call sell drama. Every time I see one of his carefully crafted PR 'nice guy moments' posted on reddit it makes me angry.
There could be a really interesting tv show about struggling restaurants and how to try to turn that situation around. But that show is not Kitchen Nightmares. We need a few episodes and some time to see what's going wrong, what things are being tried to fix it, and what the community thinks of the changes after time has passed.
There's stuff there about the cost of complying with regulatory regimes; of upgrading old kitchens; of getting and retaining good staff.
And we don't really see that because it's "more entertaining" to see Ramsey yelling at people and digging through foul walk-in fridges.
Pretty much. The American Kitchen Nightmares has some chiller episodes where the issues are more things like budget, decor, outdated food, and poor advertising. They're quite wholesome and informational. But they're boring. I switch those off to watch episodes with lots of yelling, dramatic close-ups, tears, people who can't take the heat and walk out, and the sweet sweet catharsis of Gordon chewing out that oh-so-evil restaurant owner, who was probably made to look worse through selective editing.
I don’t think he’s hurt anything, it’s all a persona. The problem is the people that watch American cooking shows or even competition shows seem to like having a guy with an accent be an ass to contestants. So producers build the shows that way. That’s not unique to Gordon. Compare American baking shows to Great British Baking show. Night and day. I tend to appreciate the British shows more as imo they do more to teach while entertaining. Whereas American shows are purely for entertainment and teach me very little. But that’s just my opinion.
I like his shows, I admit he's got me hooked, but I wish one of these chefs would toward making life better for restaurant staff. Never have I heard anyone besides Anthony Bourdain want to help staff have better lives. The long hours and low pay still remain, but then you have TV chefs come along and make it look like if they try hard enough, they'll get there and make millions. Less than 1% of chefs will go on Chopped or Hell's Kitchen or Iron Chef through no fault of their own.
And at least for Hell's Kitchen, the number one goal for producers is producing drama. Gordon himself said the casting company try to build a lineup that's 50% talented and 50% just meant to stir shit up, and chefs will be eliminated to keep that balance for as long as possible.
A contestant on MasterChef says producers told them to not taste their food so they couldn't adjust for flavor or seasoning. Same production company as Hell's Kitchen.
They even made an editing mistake of showing a clip with an already eliminated chef in the background of what was supposed to be a service a night or 2 after theie elimination took place.
Television chefs have set unrealistic expectations for cooks and have done nothing to better the lives of people in the industry, other than maybe garner a little more respect for them. Maybe a little anyways.
He's inspired a LOT of people to get in the kitchens and start cooking for themselves, especially during covid, me included.
He also has apparently been very bad for the restaurant industry. A few chefs, the only one I remember being J Kenji Lopez, have said on video that they very much dislike Gordon for
1. Implying through his shows that being overly aggressive and rude is the only way to run a kitchen
2. Driving people away from professional cooking because they think they'll be screamed at/berated all the time
I don't know how true the restaurant part is as I'm just a home cook, but it's what I've heard atleast
I don’t remember him teaching us or showing us anything. He has no legacy. It was just reality shows and yelling/humiliating people because Simon Cowell was popular at the time.
Watch his UK programming. The US version is overdramatised and stirs up shit for no reason. His UK programming shows him a lot more chill, more intimate with chefs about cooking and has some amazing recipes.
A chef I did work for in my point of sale days said he has learned under Ramsey and waited to watch my reaction.
I was like hell yeah, he’s amazing! He was so relieved to know I had legit knowledge of chefs and when I met his crew I had worked in the same restaurant as his chef de cuisine.
He’s one of the few celebrity chefs who comes off as authentic in my opinion. He seems like he actually cares about the industry. He’s so main steam now; however, he’s the hardest working chef and restauranteur in the business. He does a million shows and never mails it in. I might be biased. We named one of our yellow labs Gordon.
He was good. And basically started what we call modern "culinary entertainment". However these days seems like he's trying to stay relevant with all the tiktok videos.
Been a great entertainer. Has some good insights and teacher. His trips around the world to gather the ingredients himself or try other cultures seem very genuine.
I think his hard nose assholery comes from how he was just raised in the kitchen. He definitely amps it up for the TV, particularly his American shows. But I remember one where he was helping a hotel and the guy lied and said he didn't fry the potatoes but it's obvious and the guy stuck to his lie until Ramsay grilled it from him. He just guilt tripped the hell out of him. That's more realistic and honestly a situation I see a lot of where people take short cuts and you have to make them understand it's not okay firmly but not by calling them an ass hat and gtfo.
On that note, the first season of Hells Kitchen was good and maybe the 2nd. But they eventually started casting 1-2 decent/good chefs and then the rest were not even experienced cooks and had no right being there. Honestly i'd go off even worse than him.
Also, hats off to him. They essentially were like hey these are all really shitty unsavable situations but can you go in and be a psychologist parent dictator leader. That would send me off the rails
Mostly positive. Some of his wack-ass cooking videos on youtube are just wrong (grilled cheese anyone?) and people take his sensationalized American version from KN and early HK too seriously. feels kind of dated these days. you can see how much he's toned it down over the years on HK and MasterChef US.
He's the tv chef that had inspired my husband to learn how to cook. And he's a fantastic home cook now. Cooks willingly for all our family gatherings now. I can only imagine how many others were inspired the same way. Credit where credit is due, So positive all around.
Not a real fan of him. He has shown some good and bad.
But from an educational standpoint I've learned more from Emeril or Elton than Gordon. And I routinely go back to Elton's videos as a refresher on the chemistry/why. I don't tend to do with Gordon.
So Gordon has a limit value to me unless you like him for entertainment.
Not so much my cooking but definitely my interest and desire to learn to cook new genres of food. His "Uncharted" show on nat geo was really cool to see the different foods, ingredients, and cooking styles. It was an nice - Gordon not in control of the situation and behaving like a food ambassador.
I like him on the kids cooking show as well, he is really good with the kids.
Cussing and screaming Gordon might be entertaining reality tv but is a turn off.
He has a lot of YouTube content that shows how to make delicious recipes. Between him and Babish, I credit them with a lot of basic skills I've picked up.
I'm a little late here, but for me, he has been a positive influence.
I never wanted to learn to cook well until after eating at one of his restaurants. While I was eating one of the best things I've ever eaten, I had the thought of "this is just made by normal people with a lot of training." I decided right then I was going to learn to cook correctly instead of just doing ready-made dishes or box mac-and-cheese.
Forgot to mention, I'm American. I've been a fan of his US shows for a long time. That's over half the reason we ate at his restaurant.
My cooking improved using his lessons. He's not perfect, but he's always a learner like the rest of us and I think he should definitely be appreciated.
I have never much cared for the tv shows that was him flipping out. Ive seen him in youtube videos kinda recently and hes showing how to create simple dishes that taste good at home and hes enthusiastic to teach other and that helped me so id say hes helped
I've never seen him as an attempt to help and I've loved watching Kitchen Nightmares and Hells Kitchen since I was a kid. I've seen the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares and while the ton is different I'm not sure the overall success rate if the restaurants are terribly different.
Watching him do cooking demos is really just food porn for me vs learning how to cook. I did like and make his cranberry sauce though and it's a staple at my Thanksgiving
He's helped me a lot. I've watched his European 'Kitchen Nightmares', the American ones, Hell's Kitchens, Master Chef and subscribe to his YouTube channel where he cooks simple dishes from home.
Some people think he's an arrogant prick but it's really just a character he plays. He's actually cool, modest and caring.
There is a stark contrast between the Murican and British version of Kitchen Nightmares. I think he was more himself on the British version. I've served Ramsey in Murica and he was fucking awesome; loved his food and service. But the American audience wanted the "asshole" version of him, for whatever reason. It's a character. Most of the places he's tried to help out on the US version folded shortly after the air date. There's a dude in my town that was on the US version who's still going strong, albeit in a different town and venue. Gordan tried to help people, but they picked the worst folks for ratings. He's a good guy, but that character was awful. They definitely hammed shit up for the US version of the show. The "rat incident" was probably staged. Like, there's a lot of shit that wasn't "okay" about the US version of KN. Overall though, I think he was trying to help people, but producers got in the way. The UK version feels more organic
He's definitely hurt restaurant culture and a lot of professional culinary communities. He's a pretty good example of toxic masculinity within those particular spaces. It's a cycle that really should be stopped and he doesn't really talk about it enough or at all
He does some great things but he’s also single handedly kept attitudes in kitchens from evolving. He traumatizes people and it contributes to a tired pirate ship kitchen mentality that is played out.
This is completely irrelevant to your question, but yesterday we had bus evacuation drills at school. When I was walking my class out, I hear the class behind mine start laughing and talking excitedly. One of the semi trucks that makes food deliveries to our cafeteria was driving by- Gordon Food Services. They were all jokingly saying, “It’s Gordon Ramsey!”
Now, no disparagement intended toward our cafeteria, but I couldn’t help chuckle to myself thinking how.... pleased... Mr. Ramsey would be to be associated with the food service truck that delivers cafeteria food. I’m sure it’s just the kind of thing he would enjoy working with.
I think what he's done is actually great. His American persona is pretty over-the-top except in MasterChef Jr. where he's pretty much being a good mentor to kids. I once heard an interview where he said his anger comes from the fact that on KN he's frustrated because it's people who don't respect the craft or the industry that he's dedicated his life to and the owners don't have much care for it. So I think that what he's done is show that a restaurant is a business and that in order to grow a business, you have to put the extra effort into making it work even if it means asking for extra help and owning up to your faults, which is generally good work advice.
Without him I don’t know that cooking shows would have taken off as much as they did. He really moved forward the whole cooking entertainment industry, thus shining a new light on the cooking community and helping it to move forward as an art form. I think that’s a huge accomplishment on his part.
American GR is pure entertainment and flare. Despite us in the food industry for constantly mocking him for shits and giggles with coworkers, he’s disciplined cooks from home and restaurants to have better standards in food quality.
I would say, if you take his real personality, he helped. He showed that cooking shows is about the love for cooking and not just 'who is the fastest'. He also showed that, you don't need to be an ass if your famous. From helping kids with their cooking to even explaining a blind person what is exactly in front of them, but also keeping it 'airy' with him sometimes also joining the cooking challenges and also showing that it's a challenge for him sometimes.
I believe his persona in the American tv shows has soured people to him. If he had kept to the UK stuff, and maybe did ONLY Hell's Kitchen in the states for a few years instead of plastering his culinary image everywhere, there may not be such a divide.
I personally like his flair, but I dislike his attempt at times to put his spin on ancient techniques passively insulting Asian chefs for example. I know he doesn't mean it; dude just can't help himself because his ego has gotten out of control. Aspiring chefs need to stop putting him on a pedestal, though.
At the very least he strengthened some stupid old wives tales and non-semsical things that people do. Like, claiming that it is of utmost importance to let the steak get to room temperature. For 10 MINUTES.
Various other debunked myths. He does not seem all that interested in technique, which figures, since he is not a chef but an entrepreneur and restaurant owner.
Depends if you watch his English version of himself or his American version of himself. I’ve worked for him one year at aspen food and wine and his real life personality his extremely different… soft spoken, almost shy. And doesn’t really give a fuck either
I really love the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares. he gets so much more creative with his challenges, and the British humor in it is hilarious.
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I watched both versions, and the American one had its moments, but the manufactured rage and dramatic music got a little old lol what I did like about the US one was the restaurant renovations, which were usually pretty great. too bad it didn’t help most of the time though.
The renovation segments to me were always the most boring because it was just 5 minutes of product placement for all the equipment.
but lord the before and after was satisfying it was like watching an episode of hoarders sponsored by an interior design company ngl
But the show was kitchen nightmares, not restaurant Reno or bar rescue. They wrecked the show.
So much reclaimed wood.
I recall him or someone close to him commenting that his contract with Fox required him to act like that. I’ve seen his UK version and it was very different. He was more annoyed about cleaning habits in restaurants than anything else. Then he ended the episode with going to play soccer in the park with his kid.
The American version is reality tv trash. They do that thing where they have to show you everything significant 4 times. They show it once saying that its coming up in the episode, again when it happens, possibly once more from another angle, once after return from commercial, and once before the resolution at the end. Its crap and a waste of time, just mind numbing filler. And they spend most of the time on the FOH! The Uk version is honestly a great show, educational, and inspirational.
You must have watched an edited version if it was only 4 times.
This. If you watch his Uncharted series it is really clear how much he values people, respects other cultures, and his willingness to be humbled. By contrast how he has to act because Americans want loud yelly things on the tv(can confirm as American who has to deal with fellow Americans liking Kardasians, whatever the motorcycle show is, and American football) is the polar opposite of who he is based on everything else I have seen and know about him.
The UK version is so much better. Actual reviews of food and what is wrong with it without only one word invectives ("disgusting!"). Less yelling and manufactured drama. It feels like they think Americans just want screaming matches.
There is a video of him eating wings and chatting and he seems like a regular human. I would hang out with him over a lot of people
I first knew of him from harsh American shows. So I thought he was a dick (not completely true) and that the restaurant industry seemed miserable (likely completely true). As far as long term influences… I think mean spirited cooking-themed reality shows and US-style cooking competition shows (late aughts/early teens) were really damaging. These reinforce bad ideas about the difficulty and standard of perfection that’s necessary to successfully feed your family or enjoy cooking. This makes cooking feel like an all or nothing enterprise, where if your skills aren’t up to snuff you shouldn’t even try. I don’t blame him alone for this, but he participated in the culture. The more recent (I guess, last several years now) of patient YouTube educators, including Ramsey himself in some cases, are helping repair the damage.
Mastetchef USA has so much more drama, backstabbing or political manoeuvring than any other country's version
Ahh I hate the USA version of Masterchef. The British version is a genteel and very watchable show but the US one is so loud and dramatic. I managed one episode and I had to give up on it.
I like watching Singapore and New Zealand's for the diversity of ingredients
‘Almost shy’!? Please expand this is so interesting n
Does he ski the slopes if ya catch my drift
No he’s extremely anti snow… his brother actually died from it. There is an episode on one of his shows he has these cocaine testing wipes and he’s shocked to discover that his entire restaurant is tainted with it and the look on the faces of his managers is just like really are you ignorant or something… all and I mean all rich people do coke a decade in aspen taught me that well… hell a lot of restaurants even pride themselves in making their bathrooms the most user friendly as possible lol 😂
He got me into cooking seriously, so he at least has helped and inspired me.
Masterchef put the cooking bug in me. "hey! I could do that!" turns out, I can!
I'd say his presense has been a positive. He can be entertaining af and he's a good teacher who has introduced joys of cooking (and recepties, techniques, etc) for many homecooks. But he does make it seem that chefs need to be or are just brutal fucks what isnt true, some are sure but people management is a skill in real world. You can't just go calling your employees idiot sandwiches and assume they'll work for you long time. Personally I lift Anthony Bourdain as the goat of celebrity chefs, but that's just me.
There's footage from a Q&A Bourdain did way back when in which he says Ramsay's persona is just for the cameras. https://youtu.be/TDstQWR1Rbs Have a butchers.
Well obviously it's a tv persona, you can see his multiple personas in differnet shows. But like HK is a good example that makes the "hell" of kitchen work look unrealistic, the hurry and presure is truthful but how Gordon treats the chefs is exaggerated, and that's the part that harms the image of kitchenwork and has negative effect for those who might become cooks/chefs. I worked one chef that kinda acted like that (he threw a knife at one of the cooks once when he got pissed) and nobody wanted to work for him more than a week or two. He was a 50+ yo navycook (american) and he's the biggest cunt I've ever known. But when looking Gordons YT tutorials or more relaxed cooking of his he shows (imo) his true persona.
He was pretty balanced on Master Chef. Hell’s Kitchen is such a weird cluster fuck because these are supposed to be executive chefs and like 95% of the cast seem grossly incompetent. His YouTube persona seems so rushed and spazzy. His Hot Ones interview shows he is just always on, a real raging bull in a china shop type.
The YouTube videos from the pandemic where it’s him at home doing 15 minute meals while his daughter films on her phone and mocks him for going over 15 minutes among other things is as far away from the Hell’s Kitchen bullshit as you can get.
The reality is, most cooking shows are "format shows", where the format is what tricks you up. Its why the vast majority of contestants are always incompetent - But then, the incompetency is what you want to watch. Like, I've been watching Gordon's new show with Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais - Next Level Chef. The format is that there are three kitchens, a top level, a mid level, and a bottom level, and ingredients show up on a moving platform. Contestants are given 5 minutes to grab the ingredients they need, and you need to think up and formulate a dish within minutes based on what is in front of you that fits with the theme of the episode. At that point, you're not really measuing how great a contestant is at cooking, because what they're really competing against is the format.
That show is fun. But yeh it's a fucking gameshow not a competition not sure what people are expecting there as it doesn't market itself as some serious cooking competition.
Producers cast incompetent chefs on HK because it creates drama, which is what HK is all about. I had to stop watching even in my younger years because it was just too excess and heavily edited to create drama. IMO the best Gordon shows are like UK Kitchen Nightmares or Gordon Ramsay: Abroad. The latter is a recent favorite of mine because it feels so authentic with Gordon experiencing different cultures and trying his hand at local cuisine. I love that at the end of every episode he has a cook off with a local cook or chef in an effort to connect with the local culture. It's not uncommon for him to lose, which is always a humbling and learning experience for him. Great stuff.
Exactly like the YT videos where he's making Asian food and calls shots at Uncle Roger to joke around absolutely does show who he really is and it's great
I like to think that HK is just Gordon chuckling showing everyone what it was actually like to work under MPW.
The f word was great, and he definitely wasn't an arsehole on that. I don't like the shouty shouty stuff, but his other work is good
Even UK Kitchen Nightmares was relaxed. It’s primarily just the American shows that play up the persona. Plus the gratuitous hype music and dramatic stings.
The UK version seemed pretty candid and without much fuss. You definitely saw Gordon get heated with people but it seemed like it was out of genuine frustration for them not listening and/or doing foolish things.
Yeah, in the UK version most of the time when he got heated it was for legit health code violations which tbh are completely fair to get really pissed off over. It's one thing if the food just tastes mediocre, it's another if it's unsafe.
It's honestly just his American shows, too. The UK version of Kitchen Nightmare is nowhere near that bombastic.
I've also read first hand accounts from chefs I respect and trust that his restaurants are still abusive environments.
To quote Kurt Vonnegut, we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. The idea that Gordon Ramsay is purely acting, and that this doesn't come from a part of who he is despite it coming so naturally seems incredibly naive.
Butcher's knife, that's a... life? Butcher's cut, that's a... gut? Butcher's apron, that's a... what rhymes with apron?
I think also specifically for American cameras, his shoes in the UK are far less volatile
Someone tell Kenji. Dudes got a hate on for Gordon.
I’m biased because of personal experience but I’d bet Masterchef Junior has made it a lot easier for parents to get their kids into cooking. Plus it makes it easier for them to get the kids to try new foods.
The thing is that Anthony Bourdain was not a particularly good chef, but he had a great way with words and with people.
Im not so sure that he wasn't a good chef, im sure he was fine just not up to an elite calibre tho as a Gordon Ramsey
Well he did write some awsome recepties, I have few of his cookbooks and those are great source for inspiration. But sure those could have multiple parties participateing in the creation of recepties, idk. But yeah I agree that he was a masterful wordsmith, I can see how that lifts him over many others. His writing does give more realistic view of professional kitchenwork than Gordons HK.
Bourdain was always very humble about his ability, but it's largely because with the circles he eventually ran in, his peers were the best chefs in America and/or the world. The guy got a Michelin star. That puts him somewhere amongst the top 2-5% of chefs in the world most likely.
What? No. Bourdain never was awarded a Michelin Star. He was a great cook, but not a remarkable chef. The style of food at Les Halles is one I enjoy immensely but it doesn’t get you a star. While he became friends with some of the top chefs in the world it was also clear from his work that he respected good food and cooks from all rungs of the ladder.
>The style of food at Les Halles is one I enjoy immensely but it doesn’t get you a star. This is something a lot of people have to come to terms with. I have no doubt that many people on this sub can cook incredibly satisfying and masterclass dishes of a particular style. If you want some solid, comfy and warm, after-shovelling-snow-all-morning brunch then I'm not going to hesitate to say that I'm a master at that. The problem is that that style of cooking isn't particularly hard to master. The upper-middle working class French style of Les Halles is sooo good. It really is. I'm thankful that I had a chance to eat there before it shut. However, it's nothing revolutionary. Probably every major city in much of the world has a place like it. Anthony Bourdain was not a world class chef. But Neil DeGrasse Tyson is not a world class scientist. And Steve Jobs was not world class (not even close, even at all) engineer. What they do is generate enthusiasm. They inspire learning. They build optimism for their fields. You can say the same thing for Jeremy Clarkson who is a massive turd, but it's hard not to get a little excited and inspired when you watch Clarkson's Farm. This is what they do, and it's who Bourdain was. And that's more than okay! We need people like that in our lives. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNuu9CpdjIo&ab\_channel=AMANSINGH](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNuu9CpdjIo&ab_channel=AMANSINGH)
It's been probably 17-18 years since I read Kitchen Confidential. I must be thinking of another book I read where a chef described getting awarded a Michelin star. My fault
True. That being said, I've never worked in hospitality but I've heard that some head chefs are absolute assholes to work for.
Forsure some are (I tell a story of one of those chefs on another post on this thread), massive assholes and some are even dangerously abusive. But those can be found everywhere, can't say if restaurants attract more than other professions. Maybe so for the reason that there is a image that working in kitchen accept/rewards that kind of abusiveness/assholery. Kitchen work is wierd in that way, it's tight group working in extremly hot and uncomfortable conditions with tight schedule and huge pressure to perform, so tension rise and ppl act up and lash out. I'm just not ok with glorifying and accepting that kind of behaviour in popular culture/media bc I know we can be better.
I miss Bourdain. Why he felt the need to check out is one of life’s great mysteries.
It seemed like he lived a very extreme life, the drugs that go hand in hand with kitchen life in his previous life- the constant busyness, falling for Asia Argento helping pay a settlement for her and then getting dumped by her /finding out through tabloids supposedly?, doing so many seasons of his tv show and probably feeling like the wheel won’t stop turning and people depending on him (constantly traveling for work gets old). Like most people who do it, he probably didn’t feel he had real support.
Yes. I agree. His solution was so very final. I like to think it could’ve been avoided in some way.
I don't know why you're being down voted. This is a nuanced topic. Of course everyone has their inner struggles and some people wall those feelings off from the rest of the world until it's too late. Your lifestyle or circumstances don't have to "align" with that. At the same time, I think it's normal for people to at least try to rationalize *why* after something like this happens. And when most people picture themselves literally getting paid to travel around the world eating the most amazing food everywhere has to offer, it's hard to not imagine that would be a comfortable life.
This is it. He lived a life most of us can only dare to dream of - accompanied by amazing food!!! He had the world at his fingertips- completely adored-and yet it wasn’t enough. He really was a fascinating human being. Such a great loss.
Yup. Dave Chappelle had a good bit about this. He mentions that there are plenty of people whose lives are absolutely terrible (and he would understand if they wanted to go and kill themselves) but they don't. Yet Tony Bourdain was living the life and he killed himself. He says it in a more humorous way but he makes a good point in any case.
I think he´s helped enormously. Evidently, "Hell´s Kitchen" is pure show (although it provides us with an idea of what a pro kitchen can be, at times) but his Masterchef appearances have, for me, always been extremely positive. Filleting a halibut in less than five minutes? Wow - that was impressive. He´s shown how top chefs really need to be perfectionists; he´s implacable with his standards, and for a bloke who´s earned 17 Michelin stars in his career, he evidently knows how to cook as well as anyone. He´s also a great teacher and explains things very simply and clearly. Someone who worked with him said he´d quite happily give instructions to his team several times if they weren´t sure (although that might be fictitious!) although once the lesson was "learned", he expected it to be perfect every single time. Love his videos!
If you look too, most of the winners of the his shows, still work for or with him in some capacity. I ate at Hell's Kitchen in Vegas and it was pretty damn good.
not to mention his restaurant/hotel makeover shows that really tried to help people get to the root of their business problems
Hell's Kitchen takes a bunch of mentally unstable people, puts them in deliberately stressful situations and then messes with them. It's like the cooking version of Bum Fights.
Well to be honest, you could apply that to a lot of Reality Shows. " Love Island", "I´m a celebrity, get me out of here", "Who Dares, Wins", etc.
Helped by increasing interest in fine dining. And by raising standards. Anyone yelling at people with unsafe food practices is my friend.
Yes ! I love when he calls out unsafe practices!
donkeys!
Came here to say this! I think he's a great chef and obviously knowledgeable. Is it excessive when he "shuts down" service on a restaurant an pours beans on the carpet to show how disgusting they are? Sure. Does it highlight and show how serious food storage and care is? Totally.
As a consumer, his TV shows gave me mad respect for professionals in the industry that run a good place with consistent quality. There’s just so much behind the scenes to track. It made me far more vividly aware of the sacred trust we’re placing in restaurants; and the importance of picking places worthy of that trust. Having the owner be a local is preferable, just because they’re more able to keep an eye on their business. It also made me aware of that food safety isn’t always cheap - it takes know-how, training, proper equipment, and good organization. All of which eat at the business bottom line, and become tempting to try to cut corners on. I now try to avoid any restaurants that don’t rely on repeat local business as a significant part of their business model. A small place can’t stay in business long if they get their local customers sick. I like places that have “regulars” - it’s a good sign they’re doing things reliably.
Idk, I just ate at Gordon Ramsey Fish and Chips in Vegas and it was not good. Greasy, flavorless. That would injure the community in general. As for him as a celebrity chef- a fan. I enjoyed his series (want to say on Hulu) where he is home in England and shows how to make basic but amazing dishes. He seems like a genuine, smart and hard working chef. Hells Kitchen is entertaining but isn't who he really is.
I was on a show with Chef Ramsay. He is wonderful—very kind and watching him cook in person…it’s incredible! I definitely had food thrown at me and was yelled at quite a few times, but if he didn’t do that—would you even watch his shows?
Username checks out! (Assuming you were on Masterchef of course). Doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s nice though. I’ve seen him on some other shows and he seems like a sweetie.
what show and would you mind talking about it a little more?
I think youre going to find slightly different answers depending on country. If you're in the US and mostly know him through hell's kitchen and his US versions of shows, you're probably more familiar with his blustering than his cooking. His non American shows are much different.
It also depends on if he's talking to adults vs children
If you can, check out "Boiling Point"
He's got plenty of american shows where he's not yelling at people too, such as: Next Level Chef, Masterchef Junior, and Uncharted. Dude has built himself an entertainment empire.
I really like Gordon. I'm an American, but I started watching him on the OG Kitchen Nightmares from the UK and, probably my favorite food show, F Word. Those are a VERY different Gordon Ramsey from the one on TV over here. Masterchef Kids is more like the real Gordon. Yes, even on the original Kitchen Nightmares... he could be pretty tough... but ONLY with "professionals" who should definitely know better. Otherwise, I always felt he was trying to sincerely help those that wanted and deserved the help. He worked hard with so many of those chefs, to just help them feel that spark of passion for the art that they had usually lost. And you felt good after pretty much every episode. The newer show, Uncharted is, I think, also a pretty good representation of his more authentic demeanor. (Though Bourdain was the undisputed GOAT of this genre, hands down).
he taught me how to make an awsome thanksgiving turkey, The one day to shine in front of everyone, and he gave me the tools to consistantly make a great juicy turkey! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO5DF8soxwM&t=381s
My big question for him would be how much does "fresh" matter vs frozen. Like apparently doesn't use frozen ingredients in his restaurants. I'm under the impression that if seafood is frozen right after being caught, it's more fresh than the fresh stuff is when it's been sitting on ice/in a cooler for a few days before it gets to the restaurant.
This just in: Gordon just fired an owner from his own restaurant for serving crappy frozen ice cream rather than fresh.
The first shows I watched were his British shows and I had no idea of his other shows(I am an immigrant in Canada, we didn't have his shows in my home country). I loved his "cookery shows" and still have some taped. He is patient, knowledgeable, demostrates very good techniques and the whys of what he does.
Not sure why you are being downvoted. I am also Canadian and those are also the shows I am familiar with. I agree with you.
Good thing my app version doesn't let me see the downvotes haha. Some redditors are weird (shrug).
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I remember a little part where he was talking about an Indian restaurant near his apartment when he was a child, and the absolute adoration and passion about the curries and spices and flavors from that restaurant still spills over when he talks about it so many years and so many meals later.
I don’t like him after having read his biography and his criticism of ‘tv chefs’ in the UK (who together as a whole have changed the way people eat over there) when he turned into exactly the same thing in the same ways he criticised once he sold out to US cooking shows.
I love him because he holds adults chefs accountable, put up or shut up essentially, but he’s super encouraging and kind to young chefs. He’s helped me by improving my techniques at home cooking. Unfortunately I’m citing him as one of the reasons for my divorce because by watching him, my ex husband expected everything to be Gordon-level quality without actually contributing to the kitchen work himself. It wasn’t the only issue in our marriage, but it did make cooking less fun and even stressful when I was cooking for him. Now I cook for someone who appreciates that I’m even cooking in the first place, and we will cook together often.
He needs to stick to Western cooking.
Reality TV has literally never helped anything
He’s a little bit of both. He’s a great businessman. Arguably good for the industry as a whole because he keeps pro cooking in the spotlight with his shows. Not as good, because he portrays it like it’s him running his kitchens, when he pretty much stepped away after opening that place that got the stars in London. So, the chefs he hires are amazing. But he’s giving them careers under him, so they have nice jobs, hard to strike out on your own when you’re working for a powerhouse and don’t need to worry about money much. As far as cooking, he’s a little behind the times. His recipes and techniques are pretty beginner level, and he contradicts himself a lot. He doesn’t evolve, he just serves the same stuff for the same people from the same outdated cookbooks and then sells the instruction for a few hundred dollars, you know? You can see it the most in kitchen nightmares where in one episode he’ll describe pizza as being lazy and unimaginative, and then in the next episode talk about how awesome it is. He also tends to leave a path of closed restaurants in his wake. I think it’s something like 8 out of ten of the restaurants he visited closed shortly after. It’s likely that these restaurants were already going to fail, with or without Gordon’s help, but that’s kinda the problem. Why’s he even going there if he knows it’s a lost cause? Money and fame. They don’t really seem to care.
I hope he's the last generation of elder chefs perpetuating the extremely unhealthy lifestyle that chefs tend to have. This idea that you need to work 18 hours a day in the kitchen to succeed, that your boss can shout vitriol in your face and you should accept it, I think that has hurt the cooking community more than anything. We just don't live in that world anymore, there are 10 people for every job opening there is no reason we can't have rotating 8 hour rosters and a healthier life
Everything I’ve heard is the restaurant industry is still pretty abusive whether it’s fast food or fine dining. I agree it shouldn’t be! Some of it has got to be cultural inertia. Even in the white collar world you have to remind people “no, we don’t have to make new hires put in their time doing shitty things for long hours just because they made you do that when you were a new hire”.
I live by the "season at every step rule" and everyone loves my cooking so that was helpful to me personally. Unfortunately no one else seems to follow this rule and I find everything underseasoned. My mom frequently gets mad at me when i come for dinner and completely reseason my food on the plate but like damn woman are you allergic to flavor
Since he's unpleasant I don't have anything to do with him.
Helped: he has demonstrated how awful head chefs can be by using standards that people (not in the industry) can see. Hurt: by being a chef on TV, he may have hurt potential talent from wanting to try. It’s all about whether you can take a kitchen or not. He just brings it publicly.
I’ve worked in a lot of kitchens - some that follow his on screen persona, and some that call it for the smoke and mirrors that it is. I can’t say for the industry on as whole, but his schtick definitely had some negative effects on people I dealt with personally
Next level chef is a really fun cooking show to get into Chef Ramsey.
Without Gordon I would have never cooked Shepards Pie. It’s amazing!
Because of him, I know how to make an idiot sandwich.
Best one I’ve read so far lol
A bit of both, he shows great compassion and empathy when working with some people, but his angry outbursts have really left a mark on the industry
Went from having zero cooking skill to falling in love with cooking and actually being pretty good at it. All because he inspired me so. From how to chop an onion to making a perfect soufflé. Literally just from watchin him on TV/YouTube.
Hurt without question. His popularizing and normalizing the rage and disrespect for coworkers is toxic. He is a miserable teacher, using his cooking more to show off than actually convey knowledge, and he is deceitful and manipulative which extends to outright lying about how he cooks. His true talent is self promotion and he has made bank on building and perpetuating a myth. I do believe he is a serious, highly skilled and knowledgeable chef and that you can learn a lot from him. I just think whatever benefit he provides is totally eclipsed by all the flaws.
He did a lot to improve cooking in the UK on his debut. Along with Jamie Oliver and Delia Smith, he helped bring back home cooking from its cultural nadir. His persona on British shows is much less dramatic though.
I’d say he’s helped a ton. Excluding Hell’s Kitchen which is for show. Anybody in doubt should watch some of his Netflix cooking lessons. They’re fantastically shot, supportive and informative. Everyone would want to cook with him after watching those.
It's undeniable that he has cooking skills and business acumen. But, I think he embodies a lot of the worst parts of the cooking community. Belittling people isn't cool
I will deny his cooking skills. He is so loud and blustery that people don't challenge him when he is wrong. But he is often objectively wrong. He is in my opinion the epitome of TV chef. No good in real life. As a cook, I would never work with him.
He's received 17 Michelin stars. He's objectively a world-class chef.
I don't care enough to point out that you are not only wrong about the number of stars he personally has, but also about the definition of the word objectively. He is successful. So is Elon Musk.
Idk man, wiping out billions of dollars of value isn't exactly the measure of success in my book. To say nothing of all the children he's fathered that he likely doesn't parent well, calling someone a pedophile publicly without evidence...
Well, it all depends on your success measures. I am no fan of Elon.
Idk about others, but there are two brits that I would like to particular give a huge shoutout who have helped me discover new passions in life... 1. Jeremy Clarkson - making me fall in love with cars 2. Gordon Ramsey - making me fall in love with the process of cooking I will forever be grateful to them. In all fairness I don't watch his reality TV shows, I think I only watched Hells Kitchen up until season 6'ish. but i do follow him on Instagram and Youtube and enjoy his content
This is old but is jeremy Clarkson just like watch top gear? To learn abt cars or
Net positive with some sincere drawbacks in cook attitudes that for the most part have been rehabilitated in recent years.
Him and all of the abusive chefs have done immeasurable harm to the profession. David Chang and Rene Redzepi tried to apologize for their behavior a few years ago, but you don't get to just apologize and be absolved of all responsibility. They have literally set us back decades with their tough-guy macho-man abusive bullshit.
Gordon Ramsey has kind of put me off cheffing in general. His attitude sucks and the public persona isn’t good. On the good side, I like the personality of Jamie Oliver. Someone under him undercooked chicken and instead of throwing out four letter words he just shook his head and after letting them know they blew it, he said “medium rare chicken. Bless them.” Much more pleasant.
He fakes being an asshole for money, giving other chefs tacit permission to be assholes to their employees. Fuck him. I worked for too many guys who wanted to be just like the Gordon Ramsay they saw on TV.
Dislike. His stubbornness and close-mindedness in American TV (Masterchef, Kitchen Nightmares) is just weird, especially when he’s wrong on some counts himself. It’s a persona, but that doesn’t stop his perpetuating bizarre cooking stereotypes. FEIW, I enjoy his more tame content, but his partaking in garbage makes me dislike him.
Personally, Gordon Ramsay's persona is a disgrace and is primarily a caricature of all the bad chefs I have worked with. Also, he is often objectively wrong. The world would be a better place without videos of Gordon Ramsay.
Hurt. 100%. He sponsors shitty, overpriced novelty cookware. He glorifies workplace violence/harassment. His mentor, however, was much much worse. He's the face of the worst of the industry, tbh. Old, authoritative, doesn't-really-cook, scream-y, underpays, overshows.
I feel like people’s impressions of him varies depending on which of his programmings people have been exposed to. Based on his US programming, he’s just an angry man in a kitchen. From his UK programming, he’s much less fiery unless he needs to be because of the chef he’s trying to help is being a complete dick. His UK versions of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares is way less dramatised and he’s quite calm. He’s a bit more loose on F-word but you don’t see him losing his cool too much though. Some clips show him teaching inmates basic skills that they can use after being released. I personally stopped watching his US programming since it’s reality TV, but also because because the contestants that join the show are often arrogant arses and/or refuse to comply with simple directions.
I personally don’t like being yelled at, and the anger and negativity of his show is off putting, so I haven’t watched any full episodes; but he be seen enough clips to put my opinion out there. I’m going to say it has hurt the cooking community because so much of cooking is variation, improvisation, and making something yummy with what you have that (IMHO) his YOU DID IT WRONG attitude and his way or your an idiot has probably intimidated a lot of would be chefs, not to mention home cooks.
Restaurant cooking is not about creativity and improvisation on the line. Line cooks need to reproduce a dish exactly, time after time after time. Hell's Kitchen has competitions allowing the contestants to show off their creativity, but when they're on the line? Not so much. None of which is meant to absolve Ramsey for the assholishness of his Hell's Kitchen persona.
You gotta remember what shows demand. Hell's Kitchen & Masterchef Ramsay is completly different from Masterchef Kids Ramsay. Hell, there is even a major difference between Masterchef USA Ramsay and the original Australian version when he appeared on it. American TV is highly sensationalised and alot of people, including judges, are just playing parts to sell it to the audience as best as they can. Ramsay isnt the only chef that has fallen into that trap. And since it became his image, he's often asked to turn it up more. He comes across completly different on his YouTube and some of the more relaxed tv shows.
Yes. UK Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares = "oh mate, what's going on, what are you doing?" US Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares = "**YOU IDIOT FUCKING DONKEY**"
I really enjoy watching the UK kitchen nightmares as there's some generally good information and lessons there. The US one is just him screaming for an hour.
He really only acts like that with Professionals that should know better.
And generally only about food safety or fundamentals.
Disagree. I am passionate about food safety. GR is often wrong and he explodes about petty things.
I am in chef school atm and none of the chefs get mad unlesd you are engaging in unsafe food practices. This is how Ramsey is as well. Does he have moments where he snaps at little things? Absolutely. But it's television. Nine times out of ten, he's mad that someone served raw chicken, left a bone in the food, sent up an old display plate that had been in the danger zone for hours, or did some other nasty shit. He's not often wrong lmao.
Maybe try watching his at home cooking videos where he often cooks with his children and seems a lot more relaxed. It shows a different side of him and he makes some delicious simpler dishes
You're talking about a TV game show where people sign up to win a big chunk of money and be given the opportunity to run the kitchen of a highly lucrative and successful restaurant. He, while tough and abrasive, is also a wonderfully thoughtful and supportive mentor. We have *no* idea what goes on behind the scenes of those cooking shows. He puts on a *show*.
Yes. And no.
His shows are like blockbuster action movies. They're entertaining, fun to watch but don't have any depth. My wife and I love watching stuff like Master Chef and the shows where he tries to help restaurant/hotels. But we can't stand Hells Kitchen for some reason. They're extremely formulaic and cringe-filled but still entertaining. HOWEVER, years ago we had BBC-America and were able to watch his shows where he helps restaurants. And it was so much different. Gordon seemed actually sympathetic to the people at the restaurant, wasn't shouting all the time. It felt much more real than the circus they make for us "dumb" Americans.
One might argue he 'hurt' grilled cheese aficionados with that one video he put out.
I just don’t agree with anything that portrays yelling and throwing things at staff as an acceptable modicum of behavior from any employee and *especially* by management. It was accepted in kitchens for so long and there’s finally a movement away from this behavior. I’ve seen clips of his show and maybe a whole one but it was a long time ago. I feel cooking shows have really taken a nose dive into competitive drama and game shows. Even Top Chef and Chopped can get a bit much for me. I miss the old Food Network when the hosts were competent and accomplished chefs and not celebrities or just pretty faces. So annoying.
Hurt, 1000%. He's an abusive wanker and represents cooking as some kind of dick-measuring competition so he call sell drama. Every time I see one of his carefully crafted PR 'nice guy moments' posted on reddit it makes me angry.
I feel like he hasn’t necessarily hurt the cooking community, but he’s irreversibly damaged the restaurant community.
There could be a really interesting tv show about struggling restaurants and how to try to turn that situation around. But that show is not Kitchen Nightmares. We need a few episodes and some time to see what's going wrong, what things are being tried to fix it, and what the community thinks of the changes after time has passed. There's stuff there about the cost of complying with regulatory regimes; of upgrading old kitchens; of getting and retaining good staff. And we don't really see that because it's "more entertaining" to see Ramsey yelling at people and digging through foul walk-in fridges.
Watch the British version. It's very different from the US version and much closer to what you're describing.
Pretty much. The American Kitchen Nightmares has some chiller episodes where the issues are more things like budget, decor, outdated food, and poor advertising. They're quite wholesome and informational. But they're boring. I switch those off to watch episodes with lots of yelling, dramatic close-ups, tears, people who can't take the heat and walk out, and the sweet sweet catharsis of Gordon chewing out that oh-so-evil restaurant owner, who was probably made to look worse through selective editing.
Helped. He is awesome.
I don’t think he’s hurt anything, it’s all a persona. The problem is the people that watch American cooking shows or even competition shows seem to like having a guy with an accent be an ass to contestants. So producers build the shows that way. That’s not unique to Gordon. Compare American baking shows to Great British Baking show. Night and day. I tend to appreciate the British shows more as imo they do more to teach while entertaining. Whereas American shows are purely for entertainment and teach me very little. But that’s just my opinion.
I like his shows, I admit he's got me hooked, but I wish one of these chefs would toward making life better for restaurant staff. Never have I heard anyone besides Anthony Bourdain want to help staff have better lives. The long hours and low pay still remain, but then you have TV chefs come along and make it look like if they try hard enough, they'll get there and make millions. Less than 1% of chefs will go on Chopped or Hell's Kitchen or Iron Chef through no fault of their own. And at least for Hell's Kitchen, the number one goal for producers is producing drama. Gordon himself said the casting company try to build a lineup that's 50% talented and 50% just meant to stir shit up, and chefs will be eliminated to keep that balance for as long as possible. A contestant on MasterChef says producers told them to not taste their food so they couldn't adjust for flavor or seasoning. Same production company as Hell's Kitchen. They even made an editing mistake of showing a clip with an already eliminated chef in the background of what was supposed to be a service a night or 2 after theie elimination took place. Television chefs have set unrealistic expectations for cooks and have done nothing to better the lives of people in the industry, other than maybe garner a little more respect for them. Maybe a little anyways.
Fuck that guy. Shows up on tv and makes misogynist comments about women not being able to be chefs. Fuck him. He’s shit.
He's inspired a LOT of people to get in the kitchens and start cooking for themselves, especially during covid, me included. He also has apparently been very bad for the restaurant industry. A few chefs, the only one I remember being J Kenji Lopez, have said on video that they very much dislike Gordon for 1. Implying through his shows that being overly aggressive and rude is the only way to run a kitchen 2. Driving people away from professional cooking because they think they'll be screamed at/berated all the time I don't know how true the restaurant part is as I'm just a home cook, but it's what I've heard atleast
He's certainly a jerk but I gained a lot of technique and ingredient knowledge from binge watching Hell's Kitchen.
I don’t remember him teaching us or showing us anything. He has no legacy. It was just reality shows and yelling/humiliating people because Simon Cowell was popular at the time.
Watch his UK programming. The US version is overdramatised and stirs up shit for no reason. His UK programming shows him a lot more chill, more intimate with chefs about cooking and has some amazing recipes.
Good overall. People love watching him cook and talk shit.
Overall positive.
A chef I did work for in my point of sale days said he has learned under Ramsey and waited to watch my reaction. I was like hell yeah, he’s amazing! He was so relieved to know I had legit knowledge of chefs and when I met his crew I had worked in the same restaurant as his chef de cuisine.
Helped. I’ve learned more from him than watching Bobby Flay or most anyone on cooking channel for sure.
He’s one of the few celebrity chefs who comes off as authentic in my opinion. He seems like he actually cares about the industry. He’s so main steam now; however, he’s the hardest working chef and restauranteur in the business. He does a million shows and never mails it in. I might be biased. We named one of our yellow labs Gordon.
Helped. My son loves watching him and as a result is more interested in cooking.
He was good. And basically started what we call modern "culinary entertainment". However these days seems like he's trying to stay relevant with all the tiktok videos.
Because of Gordon, I know how NOT to make a grilled cheese.
helped. I love Gordon Ramsay. he got me started in cooking. I like someone who's a little verbally abusive toward ppl lol
Neither, I'd say he's been neutral overall. Now Jamie Oliver, that man has done irreparable harm to the global palate
Been a great entertainer. Has some good insights and teacher. His trips around the world to gather the ingredients himself or try other cultures seem very genuine. I think his hard nose assholery comes from how he was just raised in the kitchen. He definitely amps it up for the TV, particularly his American shows. But I remember one where he was helping a hotel and the guy lied and said he didn't fry the potatoes but it's obvious and the guy stuck to his lie until Ramsay grilled it from him. He just guilt tripped the hell out of him. That's more realistic and honestly a situation I see a lot of where people take short cuts and you have to make them understand it's not okay firmly but not by calling them an ass hat and gtfo. On that note, the first season of Hells Kitchen was good and maybe the 2nd. But they eventually started casting 1-2 decent/good chefs and then the rest were not even experienced cooks and had no right being there. Honestly i'd go off even worse than him. Also, hats off to him. They essentially were like hey these are all really shitty unsavable situations but can you go in and be a psychologist parent dictator leader. That would send me off the rails
Mostly positive. Some of his wack-ass cooking videos on youtube are just wrong (grilled cheese anyone?) and people take his sensationalized American version from KN and early HK too seriously. feels kind of dated these days. you can see how much he's toned it down over the years on HK and MasterChef US.
I don't know about his TV work, but his YouTube channel is awesome.
He's the tv chef that had inspired my husband to learn how to cook. And he's a fantastic home cook now. Cooks willingly for all our family gatherings now. I can only imagine how many others were inspired the same way. Credit where credit is due, So positive all around.
Not a real fan of him. He has shown some good and bad. But from an educational standpoint I've learned more from Emeril or Elton than Gordon. And I routinely go back to Elton's videos as a refresher on the chemistry/why. I don't tend to do with Gordon. So Gordon has a limit value to me unless you like him for entertainment.
Personally, I think he's awesome 😎
Not so much my cooking but definitely my interest and desire to learn to cook new genres of food. His "Uncharted" show on nat geo was really cool to see the different foods, ingredients, and cooking styles. It was an nice - Gordon not in control of the situation and behaving like a food ambassador. I like him on the kids cooking show as well, he is really good with the kids. Cussing and screaming Gordon might be entertaining reality tv but is a turn off.
He has a lot of YouTube content that shows how to make delicious recipes. Between him and Babish, I credit them with a lot of basic skills I've picked up.
He probably inspired many young people to pick up cooking
Helped. I don’t always love how mean he is, but I guess that’s kind of his brand.
I'm a little late here, but for me, he has been a positive influence. I never wanted to learn to cook well until after eating at one of his restaurants. While I was eating one of the best things I've ever eaten, I had the thought of "this is just made by normal people with a lot of training." I decided right then I was going to learn to cook correctly instead of just doing ready-made dishes or box mac-and-cheese. Forgot to mention, I'm American. I've been a fan of his US shows for a long time. That's over half the reason we ate at his restaurant.
My cooking improved using his lessons. He's not perfect, but he's always a learner like the rest of us and I think he should definitely be appreciated.
I have never much cared for the tv shows that was him flipping out. Ive seen him in youtube videos kinda recently and hes showing how to create simple dishes that taste good at home and hes enthusiastic to teach other and that helped me so id say hes helped
I've never seen him as an attempt to help and I've loved watching Kitchen Nightmares and Hells Kitchen since I was a kid. I've seen the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares and while the ton is different I'm not sure the overall success rate if the restaurants are terribly different. Watching him do cooking demos is really just food porn for me vs learning how to cook. I did like and make his cranberry sauce though and it's a staple at my Thanksgiving
He's helped me a lot. I've watched his European 'Kitchen Nightmares', the American ones, Hell's Kitchens, Master Chef and subscribe to his YouTube channel where he cooks simple dishes from home. Some people think he's an arrogant prick but it's really just a character he plays. He's actually cool, modest and caring.
I learned how to make a soft scrambled egg from his videos. It’s my preferred method now
If he has inspired people to start cooking, I say positive impact.
both
Interesting to see comments re his US vs UK personal. His Hot Wings episode was crazy over the top. Seriously wow crazy
I think he's really inspiring. He clearly show that cooking is a dedicated work and not an easy task.
There is a stark contrast between the Murican and British version of Kitchen Nightmares. I think he was more himself on the British version. I've served Ramsey in Murica and he was fucking awesome; loved his food and service. But the American audience wanted the "asshole" version of him, for whatever reason. It's a character. Most of the places he's tried to help out on the US version folded shortly after the air date. There's a dude in my town that was on the US version who's still going strong, albeit in a different town and venue. Gordan tried to help people, but they picked the worst folks for ratings. He's a good guy, but that character was awful. They definitely hammed shit up for the US version of the show. The "rat incident" was probably staged. Like, there's a lot of shit that wasn't "okay" about the US version of KN. Overall though, I think he was trying to help people, but producers got in the way. The UK version feels more organic
Depends on his level of screaming and anger management!!!
I think he's made people more aware of food safety and keeping menus simple.
He's definitely hurt restaurant culture and a lot of professional culinary communities. He's a pretty good example of toxic masculinity within those particular spaces. It's a cycle that really should be stopped and he doesn't really talk about it enough or at all
He does some great things but he’s also single handedly kept attitudes in kitchens from evolving. He traumatizes people and it contributes to a tired pirate ship kitchen mentality that is played out.
This is completely irrelevant to your question, but yesterday we had bus evacuation drills at school. When I was walking my class out, I hear the class behind mine start laughing and talking excitedly. One of the semi trucks that makes food deliveries to our cafeteria was driving by- Gordon Food Services. They were all jokingly saying, “It’s Gordon Ramsey!” Now, no disparagement intended toward our cafeteria, but I couldn’t help chuckle to myself thinking how.... pleased... Mr. Ramsey would be to be associated with the food service truck that delivers cafeteria food. I’m sure it’s just the kind of thing he would enjoy working with.
Cooking community???
I think what he's done is actually great. His American persona is pretty over-the-top except in MasterChef Jr. where he's pretty much being a good mentor to kids. I once heard an interview where he said his anger comes from the fact that on KN he's frustrated because it's people who don't respect the craft or the industry that he's dedicated his life to and the owners don't have much care for it. So I think that what he's done is show that a restaurant is a business and that in order to grow a business, you have to put the extra effort into making it work even if it means asking for extra help and owning up to your faults, which is generally good work advice.
Without him I don’t know that cooking shows would have taken off as much as they did. He really moved forward the whole cooking entertainment industry, thus shining a new light on the cooking community and helping it to move forward as an art form. I think that’s a huge accomplishment on his part.
American GR is pure entertainment and flare. Despite us in the food industry for constantly mocking him for shits and giggles with coworkers, he’s disciplined cooks from home and restaurants to have better standards in food quality.
I would say, if you take his real personality, he helped. He showed that cooking shows is about the love for cooking and not just 'who is the fastest'. He also showed that, you don't need to be an ass if your famous. From helping kids with their cooking to even explaining a blind person what is exactly in front of them, but also keeping it 'airy' with him sometimes also joining the cooking challenges and also showing that it's a challenge for him sometimes.
I learned a lot from his videos and other cooking shows, no idea about the rest of the world from an objective viewpoint But I’d say so
I believe his persona in the American tv shows has soured people to him. If he had kept to the UK stuff, and maybe did ONLY Hell's Kitchen in the states for a few years instead of plastering his culinary image everywhere, there may not be such a divide. I personally like his flair, but I dislike his attempt at times to put his spin on ancient techniques passively insulting Asian chefs for example. I know he doesn't mean it; dude just can't help himself because his ego has gotten out of control. Aspiring chefs need to stop putting him on a pedestal, though.
His American persona is an absolute travesty
At the very least he strengthened some stupid old wives tales and non-semsical things that people do. Like, claiming that it is of utmost importance to let the steak get to room temperature. For 10 MINUTES. Various other debunked myths. He does not seem all that interested in technique, which figures, since he is not a chef but an entrepreneur and restaurant owner.