20 Reasons The Food World Loves Chrissy Teigen

With the launch of her cookbook, Cravings, Chrissy Teigen has officially launched herself into the world of food professionals. She's made herself vulnerable to be brutally judged against chefs, cooks, and other food-loving celebrities. But with her book, her blog, and her food obsession, Teigen shouldn't just bewritten off as just another celebrity trying to fight her way into this tasty world. Her culinary knowledge and skills make her stand out from the crowd: Teigen really is a true, authentic cook and food-lover. Yes, she is a model, and she does have to diet before most photo shoots, but the rest of the time, her energy and passion is focused on the kitchen, and her cookbook proves this.

You can generally tell how cooking-obsessed people are by their cookbook collection. Besides her own book, you'll find David Chang's Momofuku, and Ina Garten's How Easy is That? on Teigen's shelves.This range of books, cuisines, and difficulty level proves that this model takes her food very seriously.

In case you assumed that Teigen couldn't cook, her qualification from culinary school is proof that really she can. She's been professionally trained at the French Culinary Institute: she used to dream of being a chef, not a model.

Chrissy Teigen didn't outsource the entire cookbook writing project to a ghost writer, as many other celebrities have done with their culinary efforts. She took the process incredibly seriously, and even had her co-author move in with her so that they could spend as much time together as possible perfecting the recipes.

Teigen won't share a recipe until it's perfect. Her Instagram shot of a stunning Dutch Baby pancake demonstrates how much effort she puts in to her baking, and how happy it makes her when everything turns out right: The sign of a truly dedicated cook.

For the Triple Berry Dutch Baby Pancake recipe, click here.

When travelling, Teigen doesn't behave like a spoiled superstar, demanding her favorite dish to be delivered to her by room service no matter where she is in the world. Instead, she dives into the local food scene, as the image of her and her husband eating all the pizzas in Naples proves.

The best gift Teigen ever received wasn't a fancy dress or a new pair of shoes, but an entire wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Yes, an entire wheel. The whole food world was seething with jealousy when husband, John Legend, gave her this dream Christmas present.

Teigen takes her food photography as seriously as she takes her cooking and modelling. She understands the key to the perfect shot, which, you should know, is to only over photograph using natural light.

For more food photography tips, click here.

Obviously Teigen works out — she doesn't get that body from spending her life in the kitchen. But when she is forced to go to the gym, she doesn't stray too far from her love of food: Her running socks are covered in pictures of doughnuts.

For the best post-workout snacks, click here.

We wish more models in the world were able to state their favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream with as much ease and conviction as Chrissy can. Her preference is for Ben and Jerry's red velvet cake ice cream.

If you ask any non-food-obsessive what his or her favorite meal is, that person will probably hesitate, change his or her mind several times, and finally admit that to just not knowing how to answer. This is not the case for Teigen who, if asked, will immediately provide you with an exact response: in America, Frank Restaurant's lasagna verde wins, but if she gets to choose from the whole world, she would go for steak at Trattoria Pandemonio in Florence.

Chrissy Teigen isn't one to shy away from a cooking challenge — consider her homemade gnocchi as proof. Her new cookbook includes a recipe for sweet potato gnocchi with sage brown butter, which is all made from scratch: no cheating or shortcuts are being taken in this celebrity's kitchen.

For the Sweet Potato Gnocchi With Brown Butter and Sage recipe, click here.

Chrissy Teigen's mom is Thai, and Chrissy has, sensibly, learnt all her most important cooking tips, tricks, and recipes, from her. Teigen's cooking wouldn't be the same if she didn't incorporate so much of her Thai heritage into the kitchen.

One of Chrissy's most used pieces of kitchen equipment isn't a faddish spiralizer or a cold-press juicer, but a sturdy mortar and pestle. You can tell she's a serious cook simply from the fact that she owns and uses this professional-approved piece of kitchen kit.

To learn more about chefs' favorite kitchen tools, click here.

Only people who truly appreciate the joy of eating would be brought to tears by a perfect pie. When Teigen started crying after one bite of a perfect slice, we knew that she really was one of us.

For 10 Classic, All-American Pie recipes, click here.

While most of us, when asked what our favorite pizza topping is, would probably say pepperoni, Teigen has a much better response. According to Teigen, jalapeño is the most underrated pizza topping, and now that she's mentioned it, we can't help but agree.       

She may be a crazily successful model, but Teigen has still never been asked to walk at NYFW. She openly blames this on her love of risotto, which isn't something she's willing to sacrifice just to get on that catwalk.

The key reason why the food world has fallen in love with Chrissy Teigen is because of her down-to-earth attitude about body image, food, and eating. She doesn't pretend to be the girl who can eat anything and still be super slim, nor does she claim to subsist on endless sticks of celery. She loves food, she loves cooking: She's not here to talk about dieting tips or tricks, but rather about home-cooked food that tastes amazing.

You won't be welcomed in to the food world if your condiment of choice is ketchup or mayonnaise. Teigen passes this test by being a hot sauce addict: She hoards mini take-out portions of sriracha, and tops her favorite dishes with this spicy condiment.

Here are 11 things you never knew about Sriracha.

Chrissy understands that the key to a successful day is to start it with a substantial breakfast. Her go-to breakfast is avocado with turkey bacon and two eggs over easy. Any girl who religiously starts her day with this fabulous-sounding meal gets all our food-expert approval.

To learn more about how breakfast affects your body, click here.

This model is renowned for her outspoken rants on Twitter, and lots of them are about food. She publicly takes all food issues and questions to heart, as only someone who truly is obsessed with food would do.