Alton Brown was directing TV commercials when he got the crazy idea to go to culinary school and reinvent the cooking show.

The result was Good Eats, an irreverent, science-forward program that kept Brown gainfully employed for over twenty years. Along the way he also hosted iconic programs like Iron Chef America, Food Network Star, and Cutthroat Kitchen. Brown’s live culinary variety shows have toured to sold-out crowds across the country since 2013, and his tenth book, a collection of essays and ruminations, Food for Thought, will be published by Gallery Books in February of 2025. Among his various mantle candy are a pair of James Beard awards and a Peabody. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, the designer Elizabeth Ingram and a pair of nefarious canines.