Chef's Story: 27 Chefs Talk About What Got Them into the Kitchen

Twenty-seven extraordinary chefs tell the personal stories behind their culinary triumphs.

Over the past decade, our culture's interest in the world's great chefs has grown phenomenally. Once known to only the most dedicated gourmets, these supremely talented men and women have become high-profile stars with restaurants as their stages—masterful artists working in the medium that binds us all: food!

A wonderful companion volume to The French Culinary Institute's hit public television series, Chef's Story takes us into the private world of more than two dozen maestros of the kitchen—twenty-seven remarkable individuals who share their memories, their beliefs, and their passion for quality to reveal what helped them all become modern culinary legends.

Founder of The French Culinary Institute and The Italian Culinary Academy, Dorothy Hamilton is chairwoman emerita for life of the American Institute of Wine and Food and was chairwoman of the board of trustees for the James Beard Foundation. She lives in New York and Connecticut.

Patric Kuh is the author of The Last Days of Haute Cuisine: The Coming of Age of American Restaurants, which won the 2002 James Beard Award for writing on food. He is the restaurant critic for Los Angeles Magazine, and he lives in Los Angeles.