From journalist Allen Salkin comes From Scratch, a new tell-all history of the Food Network that details the egos, and feuds of the people that made a fledgling upstart a cable TV empire. The precipitous fall of Paula Deen earlier this year wasnât the first time celebrity chefs found themselves in the midst of scandal. It wasnât even the first time for Deen. As messy as making food is, making food on TV is messier.

Anthony Bourdain vs. Paula Deen
After Deenâs 2012 diabetes scandal, an audience member at a food festival asked Anthony Bourdain if the constant smoking on his own program was comparable to Deenâs gratuitous use of butter. âYouâre right. I did smoke cigarettes for a lot of years on my show. But I wasnât selling you motherfucking cigarettes!â Bourdain said to the crowd. âAnd when I found a spot on my motherfucking lung, I didnât wait three years to sell you the patch!â Deen fired back, saying, âI donât think he has the ability to make or break my career. Especially when heâs going around eating unwashed anuses of wildebeests.â Paula Deen weathered the diabetes scandal, coming out of it an even bigger name with a bigger market share. She would not be so lucky in 2013, when she admitted in court to using racial epithets, and was subsequently dropped by the Food Network.
Anthony Bourdain vs. Tyler Florence
When chef Tyler Florence became the face of Applebeeâs, he should have known Bourdain would have something to say about it. At a satirical food awards show, The Golden Clog Awards, Bourdain gave Florence the âworst career moveâ award. Onstage he added, âAt least you can get really fucked up at Applebeeâs for cheap. You canât do that shit at Dunkin Donuts.â In From Scratch, Florence fires back: âIf you take a look at Anthony Bourdain, have you ever seen that guy put anything on a plate? What gives him the right to say anything about anybody?â

Drinking With Rachael Ray
Emeril Lagasse once said Rachael Ray âdoesnât know anything about food...I would not put her on,â but, like any chef, she proved her bona fides after hours. Ray apparently has a legendarily high tolerance for booze, second only to Mario Bataliâs. Producer Marc Summers remembers one night of drinking that ended in Batali and Ray ordering 25 shots at a strip clubâwith lap dances, naturally. In the morning both appeared at a food festival, seemingly unaffected.
Sandra Leeâs Kwanzaa Cake
Sandra Lee, of Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee, made Emeril Lagasse look âlike Escoffier,â as Bourdain put it. âShe seems to suggest that you can make good food easily, in a matter of minutes, using cheese whiz and chopped up Pringles and packaged chili mix.â Her low point, however, was the Kwanzaa Cake. It was made with traditional Kwanzaa ingredients like store-bought angel food cake, apple pie filling, corn nuts, popcorn, pumpkin seeds, and liberal amounts of vanilla frosting. Leeâs assistant, Denise Vivaldo, said, âI feel bad as a professional cook that I was involved in that abortion.â
Destroying the Barefoot Contessa
Before finding success on the Food Network, Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, attempted to sell a cooking show to Martha Stewart Living, and shot some pilot episodes for the channel. Stewart, however, reportedly did not like the idea of another woman finding success on her channel. âI donât want to be representing Ina,â Stewart declared to her team, according to Salkin. âI donât want this shown. I want the tapes of this whole series destroyed.â
Martha Stewart Millions
In the early days of the Food Network, when the channel was still scrambling for content, president Eric Ober negotiated with Martha Stewart Living to buy old episodes of the lifestyle magnateâs daytime cooking show. Stewart was disdainful of the upstart network, and in the final meeting to sign the contract, would not even look at Ober. She signed the papers and strode out of the office without a âhandshake or a glanceâ despite making millions on the deal. Ober told his lawyer, âThe only other thing I want in this agreement is I donât want to have to see that woman again for the life of this contract.â
Guy Fieri âRegarding Minoritiesâ
David Page, a producer on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, had a falling out with host Guy Fieri, and vented in a blog post. âPerhaps as Guy matures in his career he will come to realize that even Hemingway had an editor. And that listening to notes is something that can make a big difference in oneâs longevity. Along the way he may also learn it isnât good to get a reputation for plundering a companyâs budget or for wanting to be surrounded only by sycophants, and he might even adopt more tolerant social views regarding minorities.â Page also alleged that Fieri once told him, âYou canât send me to talk to gay people without warning. Those people weird me out,â and, âYou know, itâs true: Jews are cheap.â