Can Celebrity Chefs Save the World?
The Roman historian Livy famously observed that the rise of celebrity chefs was a sign of his empire’s fall into decadence. True to comparisons between the United States and the end of the Roman Empire, contemporary chefs share the same status as television personalities and Hollywood starlets. But, this doesn’t mean that we should break out “the end is nigh” signs just yet–as a result of food-oriented non-profits like Slow Food, City Harvest and the Food Bank of New York, today’s chefs are more likely to address issues like hunger and sustainability than lead us to the end of days. At first, chefs seem unlikely partners in philanthropic movements. Gastronomy is so deeply bound to sensuality and, to use Livy’s word, decadence that it often feels disconnected from morality. Watching the culinary community come up with increasingly arcane and expensive dishes in the face of poverty, food-crises and environmental disaster seems to confirm Livy’s worst fears. Gold-dusted quail eggs under
