Ted Allen | |
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Born | Edward R. Allen May 20, 1965 Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
Alma mater | Purdue University New York University |
Occupation | TV host and writer. |
Website | |
TedAllen.net |
Edward R. "Ted" Allen is an American writer, cookbook author, and television personality.[1] His newest cookbook, In My Kitchen, came out from Clarkson-Potter publishers on May 1, 2012. He was the food and wine connoisseur on the American Bravo network's Emmy-winning television program Queer Eye. He now is the host of the prime-time series Chopped, a culinary competition called "the crown jewel of Food Network" by the New York Post, in which four chefs per episode attempt to cook their way through three courses to win a $10,000 prize. He is a longtime contributing writer to Esquire magazine, the author of two cookbooks, and regularly appears on the Food Network's show The Best Thing I Ever Ate and other television cooking shows.
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Personal life
Ted Allen was born in Columbus, Ohio, but grew up in Carmel, Indiana. His Southern-born mother instilled in him a love of food and cooking.[2] Allen is openly gay and lives in New York City with his partner, Barry Rice, who runs the interior design firm Barry Rice Design, and who is a former journalism department chair and professor at Columbia College Chicago.[3]
Career
Education and early years
Allen received a degree in psychology from Purdue University in 1987. Subsequently, he enrolled in Purdue’s Krannert Graduate School of Management, but left to accept a job as a copyeditor at the Lafayette, Indiana, Journal & Courier.
He later returned to graduate school, gaining an M.A. in journalism from the Science and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University. He then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a reporter for Lerner Newspapers, a chain of community weekly newspapers. He got his start in restaurant criticism there as one quarter of a bi-weekly group-review team called "The Famished Four," along with Barry Rice, then the chain's entertainment editor (and today Allen's husband), who initiated the concept with Lerner food editor Leah A. Zeldes.
Allen then became a freelancer for Chicago magazine, eventually becoming a senior editor, and often writing about food, wine and luminaries of the culinary world. He joined Esquire in 1997 as a contributing editor. He contributed to an Esquire food series, profiled many celebrities and co-authored the magazine's popular "Things a Man Should Know" series. He has written for a variety of other magazines and continues as a contributing editor for Esquire.
Television
Allen gained great visibility in 2003, when he became a cast member of the television makeover series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Allen was the show’s food and wine specialist. He continued to make television appearances as a gourmet, including as a frequent guest judge on Food Network's Iron Chef America. Allen hosted a six-part documentary, "Uncorked: Wine Made Simple," on PBS starting May 7, 2007.[4] Beginning June 13, 2007, Allen appeared as a regular judge on seasons 3 and 4 of Bravo's reality television program Top Chef,[5] following several guest judge appearances during the previous two seasons. In 2008, he left Bravo when Food Network offered him the host job on two shows: Food Detectives, which debuted on July 29, 2008, and Chopped, which launched a 13-episode series on January 13, 2009.[6] "Detectives" returned for a second season of 13 episodes, also in January 2009. "Chopped" was renewed for 26 episodes, and went back into production in March 2009 in New York. The show took off with viewers and was renewed for another 33, which shot in January and February 2010. Solid ratings continued, and "Chopped" was signed for another season of 39, which was taped in September and October 2010, and yet another 39 in May, June, and July 2011. Now one of the highest-rated primetime shows on the network, Chopped went back into production in February 2012 for 44 more episodes. Since moving to Food Network, Allen has made appearances on many of that channel's programs, including Paula's Party and multiple episodes of The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Dear Food Network, and The Next Food Network Star. On November 16, 2008, Allen returned to Iron Chef America as co-floor reporter for the show's Thanksgiving special. Allen reprised the role as co-floor reporter for the Thanksgiving special on November 20, 2011.
Books
- Esquire's Things A Man Should Know About Style (Riverhead Books, 1999) with Scott Omelianuk (ISBN 1573227633, ISBN 978-1-57322-763-6, OCLC 42310518)
- Esquire's Things A Man Should Know About Marriage (Riverhead Books, 2000) with Scott Omelianuk (ISBN 1573227773, ISBN 978-1-57322-777-3, OCLC 42462917)
- Esquire's Things A Man Should Know About Sex (Riverhead Books, 2001) with Scott Omelianuk
- Esquire's Things A Man Should Know About Handshakes, White Lies and Which Fork Goes Where: Easy Business Etiquette for Complicated Times (Riverhead Books, 2001) with Scott Omelianuk (ISBN 1588160688, ISBN 978-1-58816-068-3)
- Co-author, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five's Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better (Clarkson Potter, 2004) (ISBN 140005446X, ISBN 978-1-4000-5446-6, ISBN 1-4000-9784-3, ISBN 978-1-4000-9784-5)
- The Food You Want To Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes (Clarkson Potter, 2005) (ISBN 1400080908, ISBN 978-1-4000-8090-8)
Awards
In May 2012, Allen received a James Beard Award for his work as the host of Chopped, and the show itself also won for best in-studio television program[7] . In 2004 he won an Emmy Award along with the other cast members and producers of Queer Eye for "Outstanding Reality Program" from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The show was also nominated again for that category in 2005. In 2001 Allen was nominated for a National Magazine Award for an article on male breast cancer in Esquire. He contributed to an Esquire food series that was a finalist in the National Magazine Award 2003 awards. In 2011 he received a Visibiliity Award from the Human Rights Campaign in San Francisco. He also holds two awards from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation for Queer Eye, presented in 2004 and 2005.
References
- ^ "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: Bravo Fab Five Say Goodbye", TVSeriesFinale.com, 18 January 2012, http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/queer-eye-for-the-straight-guy-bravo-fab-five-say-goodbye/, retrieved 8 March 2012
- ^ "Slashfood.com". Ted Allen: The Slashfood Interview. http://www.slashfood.com/2005/10/20/ted-allen-the-slashfood-interview/. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
- ^ :Echo Magazine
- ^ "TV.com". UnCorked. http://www.tv.com/uncorked/show/30445/summary.html. Retrieved February 2007.
- ^ "Bravo Announces Contestants for Top Chef 3 Miami". MovieWeb. 2007-05-09. http://www.movieweb.com/tv/news/76/19676.php. Retrieved 2007-05-11.
- ^ On the Chopping Block - Washington Blade
- ^ "2012 James Beard Foundation Award Winners". The James Beard Foundation. http://www.jamesbeard.org/sites/default/files/static/additional/050712_JBF_WINNERS.pdf. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
External links
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