Chef's Story: 27 Chefs Talk about What Got Them Into the Kitchen

This companion book to The French Culinary Institute's Public Television series hosted by Dorothy Hamilton brings together twenty-seven extraordinary chefs to tell the personal stories behind their culinary triumphs.

Chefs have become figures of heightened interest in our culture over the past decade. We look at chefs as stars and to restaurants as their stage. The twenty-seven fascinating individuals who tell their stories in this book bring us into their world and reveal how their early years, their beliefs, and their passion for quality have helped them 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.