ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a critical psychological account of the figure of the celebrity chef, paying particular attention to the way it deals with neoliberal demands, that is, its psychopolitical function. In contradistinction to a commonly observed tendency in food related literature to focus on the relation between food culture and the middle classes, aim is to construct an account of the way today's cooking culture registers, marks and promotes forms of creative adaptability to the constantly shifting neoliberal landscape. In the programme, the representative individual who committed to the transformative rite of passage from unemployment and dependency to creative adaptation was single mum Natasha Whiteman. Whether these artists actually violate gastro pornographic fantasies and ideology, and expose in a disturbing way the hidden psychopolitical aspect of contemporary culinary culture, or whether they actually strengthen culinary and alimentary psycho politics is indeed a moot point.
