Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is no stranger to friendly competition, but when it comes to winning or losing battles in the kitchen, he says accepting defeat is all part of life.
During an interview with People magazine, published on Nov. 6, the 59-year-old reflected on his childhood and how years of playing sports instilled a competitive yet humble nature in him.
“When I was younger, I was always very competitive in athletics, baseball, basketball, I ran track, cross country, et cetera,” he said.
Flay has appeared in more than 20 Food Network productions but notably hosts and participates in culinary competition shows such as “Beat Bobby Flay” and “Bobby’s Triple Threat.”
“So when I’m on these cooking shows, which I consider part of my athletics now—there’s a clock, there’s a competitor, there’s a competition, there’s running around—it’s basically the next version of a sporting event for me,” he said.
Flay noted that fitness plays a major role in his everyday adult life, but he also pointed to the emotional side of sports and the values he still holds true to this day.
“I think that competing in sports, like healthy sporting activities, as a young kid teaches you how to be gracious and how to lose because it’s going to happen,” he said.
“I just feel like when I lose, it’s totally fine. And I shake the person’s hand who beat me fair and square, and we go on to the next. I mean, learning how to lose is an important part of life,” Flay said.
“There’s no question that I have a learning disability,” Flay told NBC’s “Today” show in a separate interview. “Retention, reading, studying. I basically did no homework my entire scholastic career.”
Unbeknownst to him, the New York native was a hands-on learner, and it wasn’t until he started cooking that his interest and creativity peaked.
“We weren’t testing kids in my generation for these kinds of things,” Flay said. “It was a vocational education. I was working with my hands, and all of a sudden, the creativity was exciting to me.”
With more than 100 recipes featured, the book also centers around his life after dropping out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue a profession in restaurant kitchens.
After graduating from the French Culinary Institute in 1984, Flay opened Mesa Grill in New York City—his first restaurant—in the early 1990s. He has since become the owner and executive chef of several restaurants and franchises.
He has written at least 18 cookbooks throughout his career and became the first chef to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015.
“This is definitely the most important book for me that I’ve done. I’ve never done a book with this kind of approach, this very coffee table-esque style of book.” Flay told People. “This isn’t the at-home cookbook. I wanted this to be a collector’s item.”
