The Untold Truth Of YouTube Chef Byron Talbott
Byron Talbott is one of the biggest chefs on YouTube. An incredibly talented chef, Talbott shares his skills with more than a million subscribers who eagerly flock to his channel to watch his cooking videos. Navigating the YouTube world hasn't been easy for him, but Talbott has managed to transform himself from a traditional chef into an international internet sensation.
While there are a lot of celebrity chefs out there, Talbott brings his own unique touch to the culinary scene that his many fans appreciate. How, exactly, did Byron Talbott become so famous and amass such a huge following? Unlike a lot of people who have made names for themselves through social media, he didn't become famous overnight through a viral video, but put in a lot of hard work to steadily build up his impressive fan base. Here are some more things about the chef that even Talbott's biggest fans might not know.
He considers himself a "bridge" between home cooks and pro chefs
While cooking credentials are not a prerequisite to having a successful YouTube food channel, Talbott has them. A trained chef, Talbott graduated from the culinary program at Los Angeles Mission College. He worked in kitchens for a decade before he left the restaurant business in order to focus on his growing YouTube channel, which he started in 2012. He might have plenty of experience, but that doesn't mean he doesn't think he can learn from home chefs who mastered their art without going to cooking school. Talbott told Tubefilter, "In this day and age some at-home 'chefs' are very food savvy and could teach me a thing or two."
When it comes to his own personal style, Talbott thinks of himself as a cross between professional chefs and talented amateurs, which means that his channel is accessible to people of various skill levels. "I've always described myself as being the dude who's a bridge between the professional culinary world and the home cook world," he said.
It's a one-man show
Talbott's wife, Rachel Talbott, is also a YouTube star. Her lifestyle channel has over one million subscribers and covers everything from beauty to food to music. Having another seasoned pro living in the same house doesn't mean that Talbott gets help with his own channel, though. His wife sometimes appears on his channel, but Talbott does all the hard work himself. He calls it a "one-man show" since he's running the whole thing. "I conceptualize, cook, produce, film, edit, promote, etc.," Talbott told Tubefilter. "[It] can be tricky at times, so being resourceful is key."
While Talbott is doing everything on his own, the finished product looks like it has been professionally filmed and edited. You wouldn't guess the channel is run by just one person rather than by a full team of professionals. It looks like Talbott doesn't have just serious cooking chops, but also has some major video production skills.
Launching his YouTube career was slow and difficult work
Being a YouTube chef is far different from working in a restaurant or even being a celebrity chef on TV. Talbott had to learn all about how to record himself and edit his videos — all while still working full-time in a restaurant. "I hate to use the word hustle, but there's some hustle in there," he said in an interview with Video Influencers. "But really it's just nitty gritty, a lot of Google searching, a lot of just getting on the computer and reading ebooks on how to do things... it's a huge learning curve."
Talbott added that he had to learn how to use a DSLR camera and about lighting in order to film his videos. "When I started YouTube it was a whole new world," he said. It was a sharp contrast from working in a kitchen which required more physical labor.
On top of his hard work learning the ins and outs of this new trade, Talbott was also working two kitchen jobs during the first six to eight months after he launched his channel. That's dedication!
Culinary school helped him fall in love with more than food
When Talbott went to culinary school, he was expecting to receive an education in his chosen career, but he got so much more. Little did he know at the time how much the decision to become a chef would change his life. While in school, Talbott met Rachel, the woman who would later become his wife. The couple has been married since 2007, and their strong relationship has helped transform them into a YouTube power couple.
Rachel didn't know she would be meeting her future spouse in culinary school, either. She was still a high school student and was attending the same culinary school as Talbot when they met. At the time, she was considering going on the road to pursue music full-time, but her blossoming relationship made her have second thoughts. "I loved him, and being a musician and going on the road sorta scared me," she wrote in her blog. "I liked working in LA, and close to Byron. All I could think about was wanting to marry him!"
His wife pushed him to start his YouTube channel
It's a good thing that Rachel decided to stick around for her boyfriend. Not only did the relationship end up working out, but she is also the reason that Talbott started his YouTube channel. Talbott told New Rockstars that it was his wife who encouraged his early video efforts. "On some level I guess I always knew that I wanted a platform to share my passion for food as a young chef, but didn't know how to achieve that without having to open a very risky and expensive restaurant," he said.
Talbott was working at a Beverly Hills bistro while Rachel was working on her YouTube channel, and when her fans found out she was married to a chef they requested that he start his own food channel. While Talbott wasn't sold on the idea at first, he said that "with a little convincing from my wife I filmed my first video... and never looked back."
Working in a kitchen helped him learn how to manage stress
Talbott has been a chef for some time, but he is working in a very different environment now than the one he anticipated when he went to culinary school. Working in a kitchen comes with a lot of pressure, and Talbott says the profession isn't one that everyone is cut out for. "The kitchen's stressful but if you don't know how to manage stress... the kitchen is maybe not for you," Talbott said in a YouTube video. "It's just one of those things that you learn as you go through it and you build the skin... you figure it out."
Fortunately, Talbott found that he could handle the stress of working in a quickly paced environment. "I learned that I was really good under pressure," he told Things They Don't Tell You About (via Yahoo). "I could manage that. That was something that I proved to myself."
He's been in the cooking business since his teens
Some people spend decades of their life figuring out what they want to do, but Talbott knew from a young age that he loved to cook. He began formally pursuing his career at the age of 17, when he started culinary school. From there, he worked his way up, first as a dishwasher and cook, and later on as a chef.
His first job in the industry wasn't glamorous, but it affirmed that Talbott was in the right career. "I was 19 and I was a year and a half into the culinary program," he told Things They Don't Tell You About (via Yahoo). "I got a job at a country club... That was my foot in the door with the hands-on culinary experience: washing dishes, prepping everything you could imagine, peeling onions and peeling potatoes. So, definitely where the rubber hits the road, but it was fun."
He has plans to go bigger
What's next for Talbott? He's keeping busy with his YouTube channel and, of course, his wife and kids, but the chef has some other things planned. He's been teasing a cookbook for a while, as well as new ideas for his YouTube channel. "I'd love to do a food crawl/travel series," he told New Rockstars in 2014. "I've always been fascinated with the science behind food, so I'd love to incorporate that into my channel somehow. A cookbook is a must. Break some sort of Guinness world record with food... "
In 2016, he told Tubefilter that a cookbook was "in the works," but stopped just shy of making a formal announcement about when fans can expect to get their hands on what is sure to be a treasure trove of delicious goodies. Later that year, PopSugar published Talbott's recipe for cinnamon-apple beignets, which seemed like the perfect opportunity to give his fans a release date, but so far he's leaving us all hanging. Here's hoping that Talbott's cookbook comes out soon. We've been waiting for years!
Shyness is something he has to constantly work to overcome
You probably wouldn't guess it from watching Talbott's channel, but the chef is a naturally shy and reserved person — not a great trait for someone who aspires to make a living in front of a camera. The outgoing personality you see on his videos is something that he constantly has to work to cultivate.
Fortunately, Talbott's motivation to showcase his cooking skills were enough to keep him going. He felt that his cooking skills could "be interesting in the social realm" and the only way to explore that was to confront his fear. Today, Talbott seems like he has gotten over his stage fright, but he claims that the shyness is still there. "Believe it or not, I'm extremely shy and that was and still is challenging to work through," Talbott told Tubefilter. "I'm still figuring out how to have a personality."
He and his wife are total homebodies
We tend to think of famous people as living a glamorous life in front of the cameras, but the Talbotts are keeping things simple even though they could easily party like rockstars. Talbott's wife, Rachel, spoke to New Rockstars about what the couple does when they aren't hard at work creating new content for their respective YouTube channels, and it's not as exciting as you might expect. "Byron and myself are very chill people," she said. "We really love to relax, eat good food, watch a great movie. We don't go out and party; we stay home and start projects."
It might sound boring to some people, but the fact that the Talbotts love hanging out at home with each other just goes to show that it's the simple things in life that matter. They might just be among the most down-to-earth YouTube celebrities out there.