The Food Network's Original Chefs: Where Are They Now?

From Bobby Flay to Anne Burrell, see what some of the early Food Network chefs are up to today

The Food Network has been bringing audiences delicious recipes, kitchen tips and tricks and charismatic chefs for more than 30 years!

While its slate of shows has evolved over time, starting with its inception in 1993 as TV Food Network and growth to include food entertainment programming as well as instructional cooking shows, many of the early faces who made the channel what it is are now some of the most recognizable chefs around. Though many of their journeys have included television shows, restaurants and fanfare, some stories are not as positive and have been tainted by controversy.

From Bobby Flay to Emeril Lagasse, see what some of the original Food Network chefs are up to today.

Bobby Flay

Bobby Flay joined the Food Network right at the start in 1994 — when its name was still TV Food Network!

“That place has been my family for a long time,” Flay, whose first show Grillin' & Chillin' premiered in 1996, told PEOPLE in early 2023. “I love having my Food Network family because it's my shorthand of life. They've let me basically bring to life my culinary dreams on TV.”

In the more than 30 years since his time on the network began, he's had his hand in many shows including Iron Chef America, Brunch @ Bobby's and Beat Bobby Flay, won four Emmy awards, penned several cookbooks and opened multiple restaurants around the country.

In 2021, he ventured into the pet food business when he launched a brand of cat food named Made by Nacho after his own cat, Nacho.

Flay shares his one daughter, Sophie, 28, with ex-wife Kate Connelly. 

Ina Garten

Ina Garten joined the Food Network family in 2002 with her Barefoot Contessa series three years after debuting her first cookbook of the same name in 1999.

In 2021 she began hosting Be My Guest with Ina Garten which welcomes an array of celebrity guests including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Stephen Colbert and even fellow Food Network legend Bobby Flay. And while Garten has been opening her home to fans for years through her shows, she gave a closer look into her personal life, and specifically her decades-long marriage to husband Jeffrey, with her 2024 memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

She still lives in East Hampton and creates cookbooks, films her Food Network shows and even writes a column for Food Network magazine (and is fun to follow on Instagram).

Guy Fieri

Guy Fieri's career on the Food Network began in 2006 after winning The Next Food Network Star.

Following his win, his show Guy's Big Bite debuted in 2006 and he now hosts series including Guy's Grocery Games, Tournament of Champions and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (which is currently airing its 51st season). In 2021 he signed an $80 million deal with the network.

And even longer than his relationship to the network is his marriage to his wife Lori, whom he wed in 1995. The two welcomed sons Hunter, 28, and Ryder, 19 as well as helped to raise their nephew Jules, 22, following the death of Guy's sister Morgan in 2011.

Ree Drummond

Ree Drummond began hosting The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network in 2011. This year, the show is celebrating its 38th season.

The Pioneer Woman brand has expanded exponentially since the show (inspired by her blog of the same name) launched, and now includes everything from a line of clothing to kitchenware to furniture. She and her husband of more than 25 years, Ladd, also own many businesses in their hometown of Pawhuska, Oklahoma including a bakery, restaurant, hotel and retail store called The Pioneer Woman Mercantile.

In her personal life, Drummond and Ladd share five children together and in 2024 became grandparents for the first time when their eldest daughter, Alex, welcomed her first daughter.

Anne Burrell

Anne Burrell's first Food Network show came in 2008 with the premiere of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef which ran for 9 seasons. In 2012, she launched the show Chef Wanted and since 2010 has been a host and mentor on Worst Cooks in America since 2010.

Recently fans had some questions when the latest season of Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Addition: Heroes vs. Villains premiered in early January and Burrell was nowhere to be seen.

“Chef-how come you are not doing Worst Cooks this season. That is your show,” one fan asked below a Jan. 10 post to which Burrell responded: “Uuuuughhh…I know. And I don’t know.