FOOD: Transforming the American Table

TV Chefs, 1946-2018

These are some of the hundreds of chefs who have appeared on television since 1946, cooking a wide range of cuisines. Cooking shows and competitions continue to draw large audiences, creating new generations of celebrity chefs and TV personalities. 

Lena Richard, around 1950

Lena Richard, around 1950

Courtesy of Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library Special Collections, Newcomb College Institute, Tulane University

James Beard, about 1973

James Beard, about 1973

Beard first appeared on “Elsie Presents James Beard in ‘I Love to Eat’” on PBS in 1946.

Courtesy of AP Images

Joyce Chen, 1980

Joyce Chen, 1980

Joyce Chen Cooks aired on PBS starting in 1968.

Martin Yan, about 1982

Martin Yan, about 1982

Yan Can Cook first aired on PBS in 1978.

Courtesy of KQED

LaDeva Davis, about 1975

LaDeva Davis, about 1975

Davis first appeared in What’s Cooking? on PBS in 1975.

Courtesy of LaDeva Davis

Graham Kerr, 1990

Graham Kerr, 1990

Kerr’s The Galloping Gourmet aired on PBS starting in 1969.

Curtis Aikens, 1993

Curtis Aikens, 1993

Aikens appeared on Food in a Flash, one of the Food Network’s inaugural shows, beginning in 1993.

Bobby Flay, 2004

Bobby Flay, 2004

Flay joined the Food Network in 1995 and first appeared in Hot off the Grill with Bobby Flay.

Courtesy of AP Images

Rick Bayless, 2000

Rick Bayless, 2000

Bayless first appeared in Cooking Mexican on PBS in 1978.

Courtesy of AP Images

Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson, 1996

Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson, 1996

The BBC’s program Two Fat Ladies first aired in 1996.

Courtesy of AP Images

Martha Stewart, 2017

Martha Stewart, 2017

Martha Stewart Living, a syndicated show, was launched in 1992.

Jamie Oliver, about 2000

Jamie Oliver, about 2000

Oliver’s The Naked Chef first aired on the BBC in 1997.

Sara Moulton, 2002

Sara Moulton, 2002

Moulton appeared on the Food Network’s Cooking Live beginning in 1997.

Courtesy of Corbis

Jacques Pépin, 2001

Jacques Pépin, 2001

Pépin’s first PBS show was Everyday Cooking with Jacques Pépin in 1982, in later series, his daughter Claudine co-hosted.

Courtesy of KQED

Paul Prudhomme, 2005

Paul Prudhomme, 2005

Prudhomme’s first television show, Fork in the Road, aired on PBS in 1995.

Courtesy of AP Images

Lidia Bastianich, 2001

Lidia Bastianich, 2001

Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen began on PBS in 1998.

Courtesy of Lidia Bastianich

Chris Kimball, about 2000

Chris Kimball, about 2000

America’s Test Kitchen first aired on APT in 2000.

Courtesy of America’s Test Kitchen

Alton Brown, 2003

Alton Brown, 2003

Brown’s first appearance on the Food Network was in Good Eats in 1999.

Courtesy of AP Images