Antony Worrall Thompson

Born in 1951 in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Antony Worrall Thompson’s passage to culinary stardom has not exactly been smooth. Antony’s story very nearly came to an abrupt halt at the age of sixteen when his face was crushed in an horrific rugby accident, which left him badly disfigured. But pioneering surgery saved the day, enabling Antony to pursue what was to become the enduring love of his life – cooking.

Laura Calder

Laura Calder is an author and host of the Food Network Canada program, French Food at Home; it is filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, airing on Food Network Canada, the Asian Food Channel, and Cooking Channel. She was born in Long Reach, New Brunswick.

She gave up a desk job in an office in Toronto, Ontario to pursue her dream of becoming a chef. She moved across the country to Vancouver, British Columbia to attend culinary school. Her interest in French cuisine began after she got a job in California working with wine. Once that ended, she met Anne Willan at a food writers' conference who told her to come to Paris to work on a book about wine and food—a stay that was supposed to last nine months, but ended up lasting seven years.

Paula Deen

Growing up in Albany, Georgia, Paula Deen learned early in life that it takes a woman of substance to make it in this world. As a young girl, she spent countless hours in her Grandmother Paul's kitchen, learning and memorizing the same recipes that still line her dinner table today. They are the kind of recipes that only grandmothers can teach- a pinch of this, a dash of that, and a whole lot of love.

With multiple television shows, countless cookbooks, a bi-monthly magazine, an ever-expanding product line and several Southern-style restaurants, her kitchen just keeps getting hotter, and hotter. Despite her success, however, Paula knows the meaning of good friends, good family, and of course- good food.

Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck began cooking at his mother's side as a child. She was a chef in the Austrian town where he was born, and with her encouragement, Wolfgang began his formal training at fourteen years of age. As a young chef he worked in some of France's greatest restaurants, including Maxim's in Paris, the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and the Michelin 3-starred L'Oustau de Baumanière in Provence. At the age of 24, Wolfgang took the advice of a friend and left Europe for the United States. His first job was at the restaurant La Tour in Indianapolis, where he worked from 1973 to 1975.

Rachael Ray

Growing up in a family steeped in culinary tradition, Rachael Ray was exposed to a wide range of cooking techniques, from her maternal grandfather who grew and cooked everything his family of 12 ate, to her dad's family, which embraced the food-rich traditions of Louisiana.

The Ray family owned several restaurants on Cape Cod, Mass., before relocating to upstate New York, where her mother worked as the food supervisor for a restaurant chain. "I was surrounded by all different styles of cooking and worked in the food service industry in just about every capacity you can imagine," Rachael says.

Bob Blumer

Culinary adventurer Bob Blumer is the host and co-creator of the award-winning television series Glutton for Punishment. The series, now taping it’s fifth season, is produced by Paperny Films for Food Network Canada. It airs on the Food Network in the U.S. as well as in over thirty countries world-wide.
Blumer is an instantly recognizable personality, best-known as the creator and host of the Food Network series Surreal Gourmet, one of the most innovative and entertaining cooking shows on television. The award-winning show, two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Best Information Program, ran for five seasons and is still seen in over twenty-five countries.

Mario Batali

Critically acclaimed chef, restaurateur, award-winning author, and television personality, Mario Batali is arguably one of the most recognized and respected chefs working in America today. Together with his business partner Joe Bastianich, the duo have created an uber- successful restaurant and culinary empire in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Singapore.