Ted Allen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ted Allen (born May 20, 1965, in Columbus, Ohio) is the food and wine expert on the Bravo network's Emmy-winning American television program Queer Eye, a frequent guest on tv cooking shows, and author of multiple magazine articles and several books.
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[edit] Biography
Allen was born in Columbus, Ohio, but grew up in Carmel, Indiana. His Southern-born mother instilled in him a love of food and cooking from a young age.
He lives in New York City with long-time partner Barry Rice.
[edit] Career
[edit] Education and early years
Allen received a degree in psychology from Purdue University in 1987, but was attracted to publishing early on. Subsequently he enrolled in Purdue's Krannert Graduate School of Management, but left the MBA program to accept a job as a copy editor at the Lafayette, Indiana Journal and Courier. Leaving Indiana, he later returned to grad school, gaining an M.A in journalism from the Science and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University. He then moved to Chicago, where he worked for Lerner Newspapers, a now-defunct chain of community weekly newspapers. He got his start in restaurant criticism there as part of a bi-weekly group-review team called "The Famished Four," along with his partner, Barry Rice, then the chain's entertainment editor, who initiated the concept.
[edit] Magazine Writing
Allen then became a freelancer for Chicago magazine, eventually becoming a senior editor, and often writing about food and wine. One of his best-loved stories in this magazine was a humorous and partially successful test-drive of Charlie Trotter's first incredibly complicated cookbook (the article's title: "Sorry, Charlie!"). He wrote restaurant critiques for the dining section and features for the magazine and edited the front of the book. For Chicago he wrote about such food luminaries as Mario Batali, Martha Stewart, Paul Bocuse, Charlie Trotter, chef Rick Tramonto, food author Gale Gand, and Rick Bayless.
He joined Esquire in 1997 as a contributing editor, and also contributed to an Esquire food series. For Esquire, he profiled James Caan, Ellen Barkin, Ray Liotta, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Sizemore, Goran Visnjic, Wesley Snipes, Helen Hunt, Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Barry White, Monica Bellucci, Jeff Gordon, Ving Rhames, and Sugar Ray Leonard, among others. He also is the co-author of the magazine's popular "Things a Man Should Know" column, an occasional guide covering such topics of interest to men as style, marriage, sex, and cocktails, and four books that grew out of that series.
Allen also has written for Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, GQ, Epicurious, National Geographic Adventure, Self, Men's Journal, Women.Com and The Chicago Sun-Times. He continues as a contributing editor to Esquire.
[edit] Television
Allen gained enormous visibility when In 2003 he became a member of the reality tv program Queer Eye's Fab Five as the "Food and Wine connoisseur". He continues to make tv appearances in his role as a food and drink expert, and is frequent guest judge on the Food Network's primetime hit Iron Chef America.
[edit] Books
- In October 2005 Allen published a beginner's cookbook titled The Food You Want To Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes (Clarkson Potter).
- He also is co-author of the New York Times bestselling book, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five's Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better (Clarkson Potter).
[edit] Awards
- In 2001 he was nominated for a prestigious National Magazine Award for an article on male breast cancer in Esquire.
- He contributed to an Esquire food series that was a finalist in the National Magazine Award 2003 awards.
- In 2004 Queer Eye won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Reality Program" from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It was also nominated again for that category in 2005.
