20 Most Popular Chefs on Facebook

If Facebook is famous for one thing, it is its huge audience and number of daily unique visits. The social network's fan pages and groups sometimes boast hundreds and thousands, or even millions, of people who have liked or joined them. And being so popular it has, of course, also become a place for chefs, famous or not, to create their own fan pages, or have them created by fans of theirs. We wanted to know which are the most famous Facebook pages of chefs or their shows and came up with the following list of the 20 most famous chefs on Facebook.

1. Paula Deen - ~2,3 Million likes

Paula Hiers Deen is, it seems, the most popular chef on Facebook. She is an American cook, she has hosted and appeared on numerous TV shows, and also won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2007 for her show 'Paula's Home Cooking'. Deen lives in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates the restaurant The Lady & Sons. She has published fourteen cookbooks.

2. Anthony Bourdain - ~1,5 Million likes

Anthony Bourdain is another chef who is among the 'star' chefs on Facebook with about 1,5 million 'likes' for the page of his Travel Channel TV show 'No Reservations'. Anthony is famous for his New York Times bestseller 'Kitchen Confidential' which was published in 2000 and depicted his personal story as well as a behind-the-scenes look at restaurant kitchens. He also hosts 'The Layover' on the Travel Channel.

3. Jamie Oliver - ~1,3 Million likes

Jamie Oliver became famous with his first show ' The Naked Chef' which was aired in '98 and '99. He's come a long way since then, with more than 24 culinary shows which he has presented or appeared in. He has also published more than 15 cookbooks and more recently he was in the spotlight because of his campaign against processed foods in schools.

4. The Rachael Ray Show - ~1 Million likes

Rachael Ray is an American celebrity cook and author of 21 cookbooks. She has received numerous awards, including 3 Daytime Grammy Awards, the 2011 People's Choice Award for Favorite Chef and even has a wax figure of herself at Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York. In 2006, she launched the charity organization Yum-O! whose goal is to help people become more health-conscious and aware of food and cooking.

5. Nigella Lawson - ~530,000 likes

Nigella Lawson, though neither having trained as a chef nor as a cook, is still one of the big names in contemporary cooking. She has appeared on at least 15 cookery shows and her second book 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' brought her the British Book Award. She often says that she does not like to be referred to as a 'celebrity chef' and that she cooks for her own pleasure and enjoyment.

6. Gordon Ramsay - ~402,000 likes

British TV star and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is well-known for his participation in TV shows about competitive cookery and food. Among these are: Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChef and others. Over the years he has received a total of 15 Michelin star awards. He was one of the chefs featured in 2005 on CNN International's show 'Quest', alongside Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal and others.

7. Alton Brown – ~337,000 likes

Alton Brown is the author of 10 books on cookery and has participated and hosted a number of TV shows such as Food Network's 'Good Eats'. He was also the host of 'Iron Chef America'. More recently, in 2012, he gained popularity by posting photos of hand-written Twitter responses on post-it notes which he calls 'Analog Tweets'. In 2005, he was named 'Best Food Guru' by Atlanta magazine.

8. Guy Fieri - ~212,000 likes

American restaurateur, author and game show host Guy Fieri is known for his ability to attract large audiences, especially on the male side, to his TV shows and by 2010, he was called Food Network's "face of the network". He also participated in a reality series, with Rachael Ray, called 'Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off'. Apart from his participation on television, he currently co-owns a number of restaurants in California and one in NY.

9. Bobby Flay - ~194,000 likes

Robert "Bobby" Flay is an American celebrity chef, author of 10 cooking books, and a restaurateur. He was featured on the 'Great Chefs' television series, participated in Iron Chef America, as well as on more than 10 other shows on Food Network. He currently owns restaurants in Las Vegas, New York, Atlantic City, the Bahamas and in a few other locations.

10. Thomas Keller - ~133,000 likes

Thomas Keller is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur and author of a number of cookbooks. He has received more than 20 awards for his work in the world of food and drinks. His 1999 book 'The French Laundry Cookbook' has become a central and important title, and received three awards in the year it was published. He co-owns a number of restaurants and 'The French Laundry' has been featured numerous times on the list of the Top 50 Restaurants in the World.

11. Heston Blumenthal - ~106,000 likes

Heston Blumenthal is an English chef and owner of 4 restaurants, one of which – The Fat Duck – has received a perfect score every year since 2007 from The Good Food Guide. Another of his restaurants – Dinner – has been called the best restaurant in the world by The Times food critic, Giles Coren. Blumenthal has received 13 personal awards, 10 TV and book awards, and more than 20 restaurant awards.

12. Mario Batali - ~93,000 likes

Mario Batali is a famous American chef, media personality and author who is acknowledged as an expert on Italian cuisine. He has participated in a number of TV shows such as Iron Chef America, Mario FULL BOIL and The Chew. He is famous for wearing shorts and orange Crocs and was even featured in the video game World of Warcraft: Cataclysm as the character Bario Matalli, known as the 'Sous Chef'.

13. Julia Child - ~89,000 likes

Julia Child, though she passed away in 2004, is also among the most popular chefs on Facebook. She was the one who brought French cuisine to the U.S. with her first cookbook, 'The Art of French Cooking'. She has received a number of awards for her work and has become something of a popular culture icon. She also served as the inspiration for the blog and book by Julie Powell, which was later also turned into the 2009 movie 'Julie & Julia'.

14. Sandra Lee - ~88,000 likes

Sandra Lee is a famous American TV chef and author of cookery books. She was the star of the 2003 Food Network show 'Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee'. Semi-homemade is her personal cooking concept which she is famous for – to cook with about 70% of pre-packaged products and 30% fresh items. She has published a number of books and in 2012 received two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work.

15. The Hairy Bikers - ~79,000 likes

David Myers and Simon King are the British chef-duo known as The Hairy Bikers. They first became popular with the TV series 'The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook' and subsequently created a number of other shows all named after them. Their shows are a combination of cookery and travelogue. In the series they are usually seen riding motorcycles and both of them have a Che Guevara tattoo on their right arms.

16. Emeril Lagasse - ~76,000 likes

Emeril Lagasse is a famous American chef, author and TV personality, best known for his Food Network shows Emeril Live and Essence of Emeril. He owns a number of restaurants in Louisiana, North Carolina, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Apart from his numerous appearances on TV and his more than 10 books on cooking, Lagasse has also contributed several recipes for the meal selection for astronauts on the International Space Station.

17. Pete Evans - ~55,000 likes

Hailing from the other side of the world, from Melbourne, Australia, is Pete Evans. Pete Evans has hosted a number of famous Australian TV shows on cooking and was also featured on Oprah Winfrey's Australian Adventure (2011) tour where he led a pizza-making and cocktail class. He has published 6 books on cooking and currently writes a monthly recipe column for Home Beautiful.

18. Wolfgang Puck - ~48,000 likes

Woflgang Puck is an Austrian celebrity chef and restaurateur who has been living and working in the U.S. since 1973. Puck has received a Daytime Emmy Award and has been inducted into the Nation's Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame as well as, more recently, into the Culinary Hall of Fame. He is the owner of The Wolfgang Puck Companies which include more than 20 restaurants and other food and drink services. He is known for his philanthropic endeavors.

19. Alice Waters - ~21,000 likes

Alice Waters is an American chef, restaurateur and writer who is the owner of Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, CA. The restaurant is famous for embracing organic and locally-produced foods and has been ranked many times among the World's 50 Best Restaurants. Waters herself is highly-esteemed in the organic and environmental movement and is generally considered one of the most influential figures in food. She has written more than 10 books on cooking and has received a number of notable awards.

20. Grant Achatz - ~21,000 likes

Grant Achatz, an American chef and restaurateur, has received more than 20 awards, including, most notably, a number of S. Pellegrino Wordl's 50 Best Restaurant awards as well as awards by the James Beard Foundation. He is famous as being an advocate and leader in the field of molecular gastronomy or so-called progressive cuisine. He has co-authored a book with Nick Kokonas called 'Alinea' about his Chicago restaurant Alinea, with more than 400 behind-the-scenes photographs and more than 100 recipes.