Ted Allen
Encyclopedia
Ted Allen is an American
writer
and television personality
. 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 on Food Network Chopped
, a culinary competition in which four chefs per episode attempt to cook their way through three courses to win a $10,000 prize. He previously also hosted Food Detectives
, which used scientific experiments to test myths about food. He regularly appears on the Food Network's show The Best Thing I Ever Ate
and other television cooking shows, and he is the author of magazine articles and books.
, but grew up in Carmel, Indiana
. His Southern
-born mother instilled in him a love of food and cooking.
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 grad 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 Rice, then the chain's entertainment editor, 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.
. 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. Beginning June 13, 2007, Allen appeared as a regular judge on seasons 3 and 4 of Bravo's reality television
program Top Chef
, 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. "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 26, which shot in January and February 2010. Solid ratings continued, and "Chopped" was signed for another season of 26, which was taped in September and October 2010. 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.
, with husband Barry Rice, a former professor at Columbia College Chicago
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and television personality
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
. He was the food and wine connoisseur on the American Bravo network's Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning television program Queer Eye
Queer Eye
Queer Eye is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network in July 2003. The program's name was changed from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after the third season to broaden the scope of its content...
. He now is the host of the prime-time series on Food Network Chopped
Chopped (TV series)
Chopped is a reality based cooking television series created by Michael Krupat, produced by Daniel Kay, and hosted by Ted Allen that pits four chefs against each other competiting for a chance to win $10,000. New episodes air every Tuesday at 10pm EST on Food Network.-Format:In each episode, four...
, a culinary competition in which four chefs per episode attempt to cook their way through three courses to win a $10,000 prize. He previously also hosted Food Detectives
Food Detectives
Food Detectives a food science show hosted by Ted Allen that airs in North America on Food Network. Ted Allen, backed by research conducted by Popular Science magazine, investigates various food-related beliefs, such as the validity of the five-second rule or the effectiveness of ginger as a means...
, which used scientific experiments to test myths about food. He regularly appears on the Food Network's show The Best Thing I Ever Ate
The Best Thing I Ever Ate
The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a program on the Food Network which premiered on June 22, 2009 . The program originally aired as a one-time special in late 2008...
and other television cooking shows, and he is the author of magazine articles and books.
Early life
Allen was born in Columbus, OhioColumbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, but grew up in Carmel, Indiana
Carmel, Indiana
Carmel is a city in Hamilton County, Indiana, United States located immediately north of Indianapolis, Indiana. The population was 79,191 at the 2010 census, and is one of the most affluent communities in the Midwest....
. His Southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
-born mother instilled in him a love of food and cooking.
Education and early years
Allen received a degree in psychology from Purdue UniversityPurdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
in 1987. Subsequently, he enrolled in Purdue’s Krannert Graduate School of Management
Krannert School of Management
The Krannert School of Management is Purdue University's school of management. The school was established in 1962 as the Krannert School of Industrial Administration with a $2.7 million endowment from Herman & Ellnora Krannert....
, but left to accept a job as a copyeditor at the Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 67,140. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which has a large impact on...
, Journal & Courier.
He later returned to grad school, gaining an M.A. in journalism from the Science and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. He then moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where he worked as a reporter for Lerner Newspapers
Lerner Newspapers
Lerner Newspapers was once the largest chain of weekly newspapers in the world. Founded by Leo Lerner, the chain was a force in community journalism in Chicago from 1926 to 2005....
, 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 Rice, then the chain's entertainment editor, who initiated the concept with Lerner food editor Leah A. Zeldes.
Allen then became a freelancer for Chicago
Chicago (magazine)
Chicago is a monthly magazine published by the Tribune Company. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, larger than People in its market...
magazine, eventually becoming a senior editor, and often writing about food, wine and luminaries of the culinary world. He joined Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
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 reality television series Queer Eye for the Straight GuyQueer Eye
Queer Eye is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network in July 2003. The program's name was changed from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after the third season to broaden the scope of its content...
. Allen was the show’s food and wine specialist. He continued to make television appearances as a gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
, including as a frequent guest judge on Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
's Iron Chef America
Iron Chef America
Iron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the...
. Allen hosted a six-part documentary, "Uncorked: Wine Made Simple," on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
starting May 7, 2007. Beginning June 13, 2007, Allen appeared as a regular judge on seasons 3 and 4 of Bravo's reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
program Top Chef
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...
, 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
Food Detectives
Food Detectives a food science show hosted by Ted Allen that airs in North America on Food Network. Ted Allen, backed by research conducted by Popular Science magazine, investigates various food-related beliefs, such as the validity of the five-second rule or the effectiveness of ginger as a means...
, which debuted on July 29, 2008, and Chopped
Chopped (TV series)
Chopped is a reality based cooking television series created by Michael Krupat, produced by Daniel Kay, and hosted by Ted Allen that pits four chefs against each other competiting for a chance to win $10,000. New episodes air every Tuesday at 10pm EST on Food Network.-Format:In each episode, four...
, which launched a 13-episode series on January 13, 2009. "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 26, which shot in January and February 2010. Solid ratings continued, and "Chopped" was signed for another season of 26, which was taped in September and October 2010. 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
The Best Thing I Ever Ate
The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a program on the Food Network which premiered on June 22, 2009 . The program originally aired as a one-time special in late 2008...
, Dear Food Network, and The Next Food Network Star
The Next Food Network Star
The Next Food Network Star is a reality television series produced by and aired on the Food Network in the United States that awards the winner his or her own series on the Food Network...
. 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 9781573227636, OCLC 42310518)
- Esquire's Things A Man Should Know About Marriage (Riverhead Books, 2000) with Scott Omelianuk (ISBN 1573227773, ISBN 9781573227773, 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 9781588160683)
- 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 9781400054466, ISBN 1400097843, ISBN 9781400097845)
- The Food You Want To Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes (Clarkson Potter, 2005) (ISBN 1400080908, ISBN 9781400080908)
Personal life
Allen is openly gay and currently lives in Clinton Hill, BrooklynClinton Hill, Brooklyn
Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is bordered on the east by Bedford-Stuyvesant, on the west by Fort Greene, on the north by Wallabout Bay and on the south by Prospect Heights...
, with husband Barry Rice, a former professor at Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...
.
Awards
- In 2004 the cast and producers of Queer EyeQueer EyeQueer Eye is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network in July 2003. The program's name was changed from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after the third season to broaden the scope of its content...
won an Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
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.