I was rewatching José Andrés’ documentary We Feed People (and please consider, if so inclined, a donation to World Central Kitchen) and started thinking about the impact celebrity chefs can have on the world, which sent me wandering down the rabbit holes of connectivity. 

We tend to think the celebrity chef is a creature of modern media, but in fact it goes back much earlier. One of the first modern celebrity chefs was Alexis Soyer, a Frenchman who made a name for himself in London high society. After working for a number of aristocratic families, he became head chef at the Reform Club, where his kitchen was famous enough – with innovations like gas cooking and refrigeration – that he conducted tours for the Great and Good.