How celebrity chefs became a source of comfort during the pandemic

Antoni Porowski from 'Queer Eye'. Photo: Handout

Alton Brown was nearly three months into quarantine when he decided to get adventurous. The chef and host of Food Network staples like Good Eats and Iron Chef America was preparing curry with his wife when they realised they didn’t have any rice on hand. Instead, they turned to an unlikely substitute – oatmeal, mixed with heaps of ghee and turmeric – to pull together their savory dish.

“That’s probably not something I would have done pre-quarantine, ” admits Brown. “At this point, I’m looking at everything in the kitchen a little differently.”