With Good Eats, Alton Brown redefined the look and feel of food shows. Since he first
debuted on the Food Network, however, much has changed about him. Here is how Alton Brown's
transformation over the years has been causing a stir.
Alton Brown was born to Alton Sr. and Phyllis Brown in Los Angeles on July 30, 1962. While
Brown slowly learned his first words and took his first steps in a house surrounded by apricot
and lemon trees in North Hollywood, around him the society changed at a lightning speed.
California in the 1960s was all about music-loving hippies and suntanned surfers. Brown's parents,
both Georgia natives, had liked what the city had to offer, so much so that what was supposed
to have been their brief honeymoon there was extended to 14 years.
Brown's dad always wanted to own a radio station, and when an opportunity presented itself to
own one in Cleveland, Georgia, the family packed their bags and moved to a town that
had little in common with the dreamy West Coast vibe. It was tough on little Brown,
who told The Wall Street Journal,
"I was 7, and Georgia came as a shock. Some of the kids didn't wear shoes to school, and
I got beat up a lot because I couldn't keep my mouth shut."
Being the new kid on the block wasn't easy for Brown. However, he was able to find solace
in music. Brown told The Wall Street Journal,
"Because my dad owned a radio station, he'd bring home promotional copies of albums. When
he gave me the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, I didn't leave my room for six months."
Brown, who had learned how to play the piano when he was just five, also took up the saxophone
at the age of 10. He later noted how playing the saxophone got him through a rough period
during his early adolescence. However, things did not get much better in high school for
Brown. In an interview with Bitter Southerner, he compared his school to a, quote, "internment
camp." Brown told the outlet,
"I was saved by the fact that I got very into jazz music, and there was a jazz band there,
so I kind of lived in that world."
If anyone should get the credit for Brown being the Brown as we know him today, it should
probably be musicians like Miles Davis, whom Brown noted as an early influence. As he progressed
from high school to college, music followed. He learned how to play guitar there and frequented
live music shows while still a student.
While most kids graduate from high school at the age of 18, Brown was by the age of
16. Brown later said that leaving high school early was, quote, "not a good thing." He would
later tell Bitter Southerner,
"I was way too young, so I wasted a couple of years."
He wanted to pursue his passion for music full-time but ultimately decided to go to
college to study business. Brown, however, knew he was not cut out for it. He instead
steered towards an entirely new field: theatre. It just so happened that the college he went
to study business at had a state-of-the-art theatre complex. Brown told the Television
Academy Foundation,
"So my first day at college, I decided to go and try out for a play. And I tried out
for a play, and I got a part in a play, and after that, I never turned back. So I ended
up with a theatre degree."
Theatre organically led to an interest in filmmaking, which came with its own challenges,
as his college lacked a film program. Brown, seeking more film experiences, eventually
transferred to the University of Georgia.
Brown never graduated from the University of Georgia. He was one foreign language credit
short of earning his degree. Upon leaving college, Brown got involved in video production.
His stint as a camera operator for R.E.M.'s 1986 music video for "The One I Love" proved
to be a turning point. After the REM project, opportunities poured in.
Around this time, Brown also got into watching food shows. The shows, however, sorely disappointed
him. Meanwhile, Brown also realized that he loved cooking. And over time, his love of
cooking turned into a serious hobby. Before long, Brown started thinking about making
his own cooking show. He told the Television Academy Foundation,
"That is the seed that got planted that became Good Eats eventually."
Alton Brown frequently spoke about the idea of a food show that mixed science and entertainment
to his then-wife DeAnna. While everyone thought he was crazy for thinking there would be a
market for such a food show, DeAnna had faith in his nascent idea. Upon her insistence — and
with her financial support — Brown joined the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont.
After graduating, he presented the scripts for two pilots to a company that made commercials.
They agreed to produce it on the condition that Brown host, while someone else directed.
This was a major plan change for Brown, who was of the idea that he would direct and have
someone else host. He accepted the conditions, though, and got working in the fall of 1997.
"I decided to start at culinary ground zero, Steak Your Claim and This Spud's for you.
One show about steak, one show about potatoes."
When the episodes were out, it didn't create the stir that Brown expected. Then, a big
break arrived. A programming executive at Food Network happened to stumble upon snippets
of his cooking show that had been uploaded online, and, in less than four months, Brown
was working on the first episode of Good Eats for the Food Network. He had no clue that
he would be making 248 more.
Two years after Good Eats premiered in 1999, Brown got an offer to host Iron Chef America.
Brown was very familiar with the concept of the show, as he had watched the original Japanese
Iron Chef when it was broadcast on a San Francisco television station.
For Brown, who sometimes took a whole day to get one shot for Good Eats, Iron Chef was
a whole new experience. He was shooting two episodes a day. But just as with Good Eats,
Iron Chef had him roll up his sleeves and meticulously study the ingredients that the
chefs brought with them in the show. He even made PowerPoint presentations of all the ingredients
that every chef used. Brown told the Television Academy Foundation,
"The goal for me was never to be surprised by an ingredient. Ever."
It must have worked, as Brown continued to host Iron Chef America for another 11 years.
In Brown's opinion, Good Eats served its purpose in expanding the scope of a food show after
its original 15 seasons. But at the end of the show's 13th year, he called it quits.
Brown told Fast Company,
"Quite frankly, as a filmmaker, I was getting bored. So I wanted to wait for technological
changes. I wanted to see how the food landscape changed. I wanted to see how the media landscape
changed."
As soon as he quit Good Eats, Brown busied himself with a ton of other projects including
a podcast, and playing mentor in the Food Network Star series.
Yet another reason Brown quit making Good Eats was that he felt a new wave of food shows
was sweeping through Food Network — a wave that would probably annihilate old shows such
as his own. Brown jumped on the bandwagon and began hosting a culinary game show called
Cutthroat Kitchen.
The idea for the show, which centered on bizarre challenges for the contestants as they tried
to make it to the final round, came from Brown's stint with The Next Iron Chef. After doing
200 episodes over a span of four years, Brown hit a saturation level with hosting game shows.
He conveyed this to his followers on Facebook, saying,
"I've had enough guys. I need to get back to what I do."
Later, Brown confirmed the end of the series on Twitter.
In the afterglow of the success of Good Eats, Brown came up with a live show based on the
series, including sock puppets, history, humor, and fast-paced dialogue reminiscent of a Good
Eats episode. The live tour kicked off in 2013 and gave Brown an opportunity to go back
to playing guitar, which was something that he hadn't done in a long time. He'd previously
done other non-music live shows, though some of those appearances were deeply controversial.
The response was great, with 144 shows in 120 cities. Bitten by the live tour bug, Brown
created another variety show called Eat Your Science in 2016.
"Alton Brown live, eat your science. Puppets, songs, and potentially dangerous culinary
demonstrations."
That fall, Brown got an opportunity to perform on Broadway. For Brown, who had quit business
studies to pursue theatre in college, performing on Broadway was his answer to those who told
him that earning a theater degree was stupid.
Alton Brown's first wife DeAnna was instrumental in getting Brown to where he is today. DeAnna,
whom Brown knew from his days creating TV commercials was the one who put him through
culinary school, pushed him to write scripts for Good Eats, and even came up with the name
for the series. Despite pulling through several challenges together, the couple divorced in
2015. Brown told People,
"We changed, the world changed, and she went one way and I went the other way. I think
we're probably both a heck of a lot better off where we are."
After the divorce, Brown gained 20 pounds, blaming excessive drinking and peanut M&M's.
But he soon picked himself up, lost the extra weight, and even got a designer to renovate
the industrial loft he moved into after leaving DeAnna. Elizabeth Ingram, the interior designer,
and Brown hit it off and were engaged a year after the renovation was finished.
Alton Brown's days after Good Eats included numerous experiences that pulled him far away
from his identity as a cook. Hosting a game show and strumming the guitar in front a packed
audience felt good while it lasted, but soon led to a bit of an identity crisis. Brown
told Fast Company,
"I think I was starting to feel kind of lost. So, I thought, well, what I need to do is
look at the food that I actually cook on a day-to-day basis."
This led to his eighth book, EveryDayCook. The book is simply a peek into Brown's way
of cooking — with no fictional characters, no puppets, and no mind-boggling camera angles.
Instead, Brown presented his most authentic self. Brown told Fast Company,
"EveryDayCook is just me personally sharing my food and it's a statement of who I am."
The book includes recipes that Brown makes and eats on a regular basis and a list of
his favorite pantry items and kitchen tools.
Alton Brown could only stay away from Good Eats for so long. Though he quit working on
it in 2012 with no plans of making a sequel, he found himself right back in the mix seven
years later. In 2019, Brown's Good Eats: The Return premiered on Food Network. During an
interview with Eater, Brown said he was doing the best work of his career on the new show.
For the new Good Eats, Brown has been able to use better production tools. Over the years,
there has also been an increase in awareness about rare and unfamiliar ingredients, which
broadened the scope of the new show. Brown told Eater,
"We're doing a show on ancient grains, and a few years ago people were like, 'What the
hell are these?'"
Besides television, Brown wanted to create a web-exclusive series as far back as 2016.
While that dream never quite manifested, he did produce a series of casual cooking videos
with his wife while the pair were in lockdown due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
"His, his, his claws are really frickin' sharp."
Brown told Salon.com:
"So for the first time, I'm in a combo. I'm in a group setting, which I'm not used to,
but it's a lot of fun."
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