One might assume that, after decades in the business, Gordon Ramsay has accomplished everything possible for a chef. He owns restaurants all over the world, resulting in more than a dozen Michelin stars, and his London flagship establishment — Restaurant Gordon Ramsay — boasts multiple impressive Michelin stars all on its own. One thing he hadn’t done yet, though, was branch out into the frozen food category … but alas, that’s now changing.
The new line of By Chef Ramsay products, which includes eight frozen meals, is now available at Walmart. These meals include slow roasted beef, fish and chips, lasagna, lemon caper chicken, four cheese macaroni, mushroom risotto, shepherd’s pie, and chicken pot pie. When ordered online, a meal costs around $6.
In an interview with People, which broke the news, Chef Ramsay explained that these foods are some of his favorites. Furthermore, Ramsay noted, these meals “represent a special part of my personal culinary journey.” He continued on to say, “It thrills me that these dishes are so widely available for anyone to experience, and I hope they inspire the home chef in everyone.” Interestingly, however, this sentiment comes as quite the surprise.
Gordon Ramsay has frequently discussed his disdain for frozen meals
Gordon Ramsay’s decision to develop a line of frozen foods is highly unexpected due to his previously stated strong feelings against them. When asked by Bon Appétit what food he would absolutely never eat, he was quick to bash frozen meals. “It’s so easy to prepare a quick meal using fresh produce, such as a simple stir-fry, but people still resort to ready meals that all taste exactly the same,” he stated.
His criticism of ready-made meals has sparked discussions on social media. On a Reddit thread, one user asked why Ramsay appears to be so against these foods. “I have watched a number of ‘Kitchen Nightmares’ episodes where Gordon finds items frozen and criticizes the restaurant for this practice,” the original poster wrote. In response, a presumed fan of Ramsay explained the chef’s probable line of thinking: “On the shows I’ve seen where he’s complaining about something being frozen, the restaurant is advertising that it’s fresh made,” they wrote. Essentially, Gordon Ramsay hates frozen food when it’s combined with misleading business practices.