Constructing culinary personae online: An analysis of the websites of British celebrity chefs

Celebrity chefs are familiar figures for the general public who sees them almost every day in TV shows, social media and use their cookbooks for inspiration in the preparation of daily and festive meals. Thus, the way in which celebrity chefs communicate with their public is worth investigating from both a communicative and a linguistic perspective. The study investigates the websites of five female and five male British celebrity chefs belonging to different age groups. The analysis focuses in particular on the examination of the ‘About’ sections, in which the chefs present themselves to the public, and of the sections before each recipe, in which the chefs present the dish. The aim is to see how the chefs construct their culinary personae and if they keep this persona consistent both in their self-presentation and in the presentation of their culinary know-how. Drawing on previous literature, the chefs’ culinary personae are, then, investigated considering differences in age, social class, gender, and professional maturity. The findings show that the chefs tend to reinforce a gender-based characterization with the sole exception of the younger female chefs who show a characterization usually assigned to male chefs.