Decline of Western civilization: Famous chefs division
Who is the most famous chef in America? Here's a hint: It's not Thomas Keller, or Nancy Silverton, or even Wolfgang Puck. According to a Web outfit called PeekYou, it's Bobby Flay. In fact, neither Keller nor Silverton are even in the top 20 and Puck barely makes the top 10.
The site ranks celebrities by their online presence, kind of like a 21st century Q score. The actual workings are vague, but they do say the score "takes into account your known presence and activity on the Internet, including but not limited to; your blogging, participation in social networks, the number of your friends, followers, or readers, the amount of web content you create, and your prominence in the news."
As with all such lists, this one is most fun for the "Huh?" factor: How did Guy Fieri and Duff Goldman wind up in the top 10? And how is Emeril Lagasse there? And yet somehow they included Jacques Pepin? It's like finding a rose in a junkyard.
The impact of television cooking competitions is obvious: Stephanie Izard is by all accounts a good cook with a fairly new restaurant in Chicago, but top-10 famous? Not without "Top Chef." Ironically, she's ranked higher than head judge and series star Tom Colicchio. But then again, so is Amanda Frietag. But Michael Voltaggio isn't even on the list. And so it goes.
Photo: Bobby Flay at the Hellmann's NYC Turkey Challenge launch. Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images