Professional 'Amateur': Adam Roberts & The FN Dish

LET'S FACE IT, most communication between friends happens virtually — e-mail, Facebook, YouTube — so it only made sense to interview the newest Food Network-dot-com star via instant messaging.

Adam Roberts, the blogger behind Amateur Gourmet, hosts The FN Dish, a direct-to-Internet interview show. Roberts plays the fan, and quite convincingly, that gets to chat with all the Food Network's on-air chefs. He also travels to all the channel's parties across the country. (Maybe sucking up to Rachael Ray wouldn't be all that bad?)

Starting out as a lowly blogger, Roberts received a big break when CNN covered his celebrity cupcakes. He then landed a book deal and from there was approached by the Food Network. Suddenly, this law school graduate was writing recipes, not briefs.

After some get-to-know-you-what'd-you-eat-for-dinner-tonight IMing, Express had its chance to find out all the dirt behind America's most trusted food source — or at least what the channel's PR department wanted us to hear.

» EXPRESS: So I'll throw it out there: You're living the dream.
» ROBERTS: Ha. Am I really?

» EXPRESS: Blogger to published author to Food Network personality!
» ROBERTS: Well I guess if you put it that way. It is a dream. Though not everyone's dream. Like I bet young Michael Jordan didn't have this dream.

» EXPRESS: Aahh. Fine. But he's the only one.
» ROBERTS: True. He is the only one. But, in all honesty, it doesn't feel quite real yet.

» EXPRESS: I was FLOORED when I saw The FN Dish come together
» ROBERTS: Maybe in a few years. If this feels more permanent I will accept it as a dream come true. (And thank you for being floored!)

» EXPRESS: It's just so exciting seeing bloggers being recognized as legit authorities. Tell me about your path to stardom.
» ROBERTS: Well, it's all very public. I started as a law student. Then in my 3rd year, I started the blog. And after a few months, Janet Jackson showed her boob and I made a Janet Jackson breast cupcake. That was the first big thing. It was featured on CNN and soon my traffic grew and grew. Then I moved to New York and a literary agent told me she thought I should write a book. So I worked with her on a proposal. And we sold it to Bantam/Dell.

» EXPRESS: How'd you get hooked up with the agent?
» ROBERTS: She e-mailed me out of the blue. So then once the book was sold I worked on it for about a year with a great editor. And then it came out. And when it came out, the Food Network came along and asked me to blog about "Next Iron Chef." And because they were so happy with that they wanted to meet me in person and then, when they saw I wasn't crazy or mangled, asked me to host "The FN Dish." And that's the story!

» EXPRESS: What's your favorite part about this new gig?
» ROBERTS: I really do enjoy getting to meet my heroes. I went to a farmer's market with Alice Waters in Miami and I'm still trying to make myself believe that really happened.

» EXPRESS: Who else would you like to take to the market? (Did that sound wrong...)
» ROBERTS: Ha.

» EXPRESS: Like a mob movie?
» ROBERTS: Well, I'm actually working on a list right now of people I want to meet, but strangely I've already met many of my heroes at the Miami Wine and Food Festival. When we were done my director said, "There's no one left to meet."

» EXPRESS: Tell me more about Tony B. [Anthony Bourdain]
» ROBERTS: He was a little tipsy, there in the kitchen [in South Beach]. I asked him how he would program the Food Network if he were given the job. And it was interesting to put him on the spot because it's one thing to be so critical; it's another to actually imagine yourself doing the job.

» EXPRESS: Absolutely.
» ROBERTS: So that was a fun moment. It's surreal. When you're holding a Food Network mic ... it can be really empowering.

» EXPRESS: It's good to see Food Network finally embrace diversity. Not that the big guys aren't great, but there needs to be more Neelys ["Down Home With the Neelys"]. More Hearty Boys ["Party Line With the Hearty Boys"].
» ROBERTS: Oh, yes. I think they're getting a little better about that.

» EXPRESS: And Ingrid [Hoffman, "Simply Delicioso"].
» ROBERTS: There are some new folks coming down the pipeline. One is Sunny Anderson, who I hung out with recently. She's really fun and is also black. So they're getting there.

» EXPRESS: Where do you want to take The FN Dish?
» ROBERTS: Well, that's something we're really working on now. I'd really like to bring in some of my favorite chefs who don't really have a venue to share their talent besides their restaurants. So I'd like to fuse together the world of dining and serious eating with the more populist world of the Food Network. Plus, more fun, wacky antics. Like, I'd like to juggle Bon Bons on a unicycle while singing "Rose's Turn" — from "Gypsy," in case you didn't know.

» EXPRESS: I think the moment I realized how big your blog Amateur Gourmet had gotten was when you hired interns. When was the big turning moment for you?
» ROBERTS:Well, the interns were really a secret way to get someone to do the heavy lifting of blog maintenance without getting paid. Please don't tell them.

» EXPRESS: Never
» ROBERTS: The big turning moment, I guess, was the time I was coming up the stairs of the subway and a woman grabbed my arm and said, "I agreed with everything you said about Ratatouille." And kept on walking.

» EXPRESS: That is a total "I'm famous, people recognize me" moment. And that post was very interesting.
» ROBERTS: Yes and very controversial. Caused me lots of trouble. But I was just writing off the cuff, as I always do. So that's the danger of doing that, I suppose.

» EXPRESS: And that's what I love about blogging: It doesn't have to be perfect.
» ROBERTS: I agree. Though it gets hard the bigger you get. Because you start to second guess yourself and anticipate the backlash. That's how it's been for me, lately.

» EXPRESS: What's your policy on comments? Do you keep all of them? Even the offensive ones?
» ROBERTS: I think of comments like guests at a dinner party: If someone said this at a dinner party would I kick them out? Those are the comments I delete. Also ones that insult the physical appearance of friends and family. Sometimes people leave comments on my blog and I feel it's as if they not only said something rude at a dinner party but they climbed on the table and took a dump.
» EXPRESS: Aaaaaahhhhhhhh.

» EXPRESS: I guess I can't let you go without asking who's your fav Food Network star.
» ROBERTS: The Barefoot Contessa! [Ina Garten] And Mario Batali. Those are my two faves.

» EXPRESS: Oh, Barefoot. She's a doll — not that I know, but I'm assuming. Have you been to her Hamptons home?
» ROBERTS: Ha. Not yet. I'm campaigning to make that happen. Here's hoping!

Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans