Chef of the Year: You

It’s a brave new Web 2.0 world out there. Time’s Person of the Year is (annoyingly) “You.” Theoretically, “You” are empowering yourself via the internet by blogging, comparison shopping, posting to bulletin boards, making new friends and business connections on LinkedIn and MySpace. Maybe you are even authoring web videos. It’s a wonder anyone has time to get in front of a stove to cook the family meal. We’ll, how about doing both? My friends at Realmeals.tv encourage the budding Mario Battali to break out the digital video camera and iVideo software, and start cooking. Submit your video recipe directly to the site, and enjoy watching yourself concoct an Apple Martini, make your own “DIY” wedding cake, or get dressed up like Elvis and make a peanut butter and fried banana sandwich that’s true to the King’s original recipe. Get a YouTube buzz going, and maybe someone with a yen for obscure cooking talent and a fat checkbook will make you the next Rachel Ray. It’s worth a shot.

My friend Michael Schreiber, a producer for the RealMeals site, enticed me—a humble cookbook author and hobbyist chef—to try it out. Armed with a digital video camera, a microphone, and my kitchen, we whipped up some chicken wings, a homemade barbeque sauce and a tasty Bloody Caesar cocktail in about an hour. About a week later, I was staring at my laptop, watching myself mincing garlic and sautéing onions. I’m not famous yet, but I have to admit, I really enjoy watching myself cook. Somehow, being on video really makes you look like you know what you’re doing. One day, when our kitchen television sets are hooked up to the Internet via the next generation of Apple TV, we’ll be able to keyword search through thousands of video recipes (some professional, but mostly amateur), and follow along with our virtual friends as they teach us how to roll dough, or de-bone a chicken. That’s the real “Web 2.0,” and I’m actually looking forward to it. Check out Chris in action on our canvasTV section. Be sure to check out the June issue of canvas for Chris’ organic barbecue tips and recipes.

Chris O’Hara is the Vice President of Sales for Mediabistro.com, and the author of six books dedicated to eating and drinking. His latest book, Great American Beer, recently won an Esquire “Man at His Best” award. Contact him via chrisohara.com