Celebrity Chefs Have Been Around Way Longer Than You Think
When we think of celebrity chefs, names like Julia Child, Jamie Oliver, and Guy Fieri often come up. While gaining fame from cooking feels like a new phenomenon, celebrity chefs date as far back as the 1500s with chef Bartolomeo Scappi, an innovative chef who changed the way we eat today. Scappi held dinner parties that were the talk of the known world — some famous meals included one with 77 desserts; edible statues of exotic, foreign animals; and playful additions such as salmon shaped to look like a glazed ham.
England's first celebrity chef, Robert May, took this playfulness even further. Born in 1588, May turned his meals into theatrical events over which his fans wrote poetry. "Who can in paste erect, of finest flour, / A compleat fort, a castle, or a tower," penned a diner after a feast including some edible buildings. In a time before Michelin stars or Yelp, poems about your meals were an excellent way for a chef to have their name spread.
Dishes from Robert May blew people away
Robert May pioneered the art of theatrical dining centuries before modern culinary spectacles like Chicago's Alinea. He revived an old tradition of presenting dishes alongside singing and dancing performances. As he grew in stature, his meals grew in pageantry.
Long before realistic cakes on "Is It Cake," May built pastry castles, fortresses, and ships with cannons. After the table was set, May and his staff would have the pastries engage in battle — blowing up the gunpowder-laden cannons that offered a stench of powder alongside the theatrics.
May loved to play with smells. Another event had his guests engage in an aromatic egg fight. Placed around the room were hollowed eggs filled with rose water. Guests were encouraged to throw the eggs, causing the room to fill with the scent of roses.
May also played with fear and horror in his banquets. One startling dish was a life-size deer made of pastry with arrows sticking out of its side. When the arrows were removed, red wine poured out in the place of blood. Some dishes even included live animals. Pies were filled with frogs or birds that escaped once the pies were cut into. The resulting pandemonium was the point, leaving diners with an evening they would never forget.