Bobby Flay Explains How His Childhood Taught Him 'How to Lose' on Competition Shows: 'An Important Part of Life'

Mar. 15, 2025

“When I was younger, I was always very competitive in athletics, baseball, basketball, I ran track, cross country, et cetera,” Flay tells PEOPLE.

He adds that fitness “became part of my adult life. And so when I’m on these cooking shows, which I consider part of my athletics now — there’s a clock, there’s a competitor, there’s a competition, there’s running around — it’s basically the next version of a sporting event for me.”

“I think that competing in sports, like healthy sporting activities, as a young kid teaches you how to be gracious and how to lose because it’s going to happen,” says Flay. “I just feel like when I lose, it’s totally fine. And I shake the person’s hand who beat me fair and square, and we go on to the next. I mean, learning how to lose is an important part of life.”

After leaving high school during his sophomore year, Flay’s school “chapter was finally over. And that’s whenChapter Onereally began.” Shortly after, he got a bussing job at a restaurant in New York City and his culinary career grew from there. Flay joined theFood Network in 1996 with his first seriesGrillin’ & Chillin’.

The book focuses on groundbreaking moments of his “cooking life” and highlights 100 recipes, most of which stem from his restaurants but some could be familiar to Food Network viewers.

He specifically only included recipes from shows that have “stuck with” him. “I just felt like those dishes became part of my repertoire in a much bigger way than just like, ‘Oh, I have to cook this now today because somebody’s challenged me to it.’ Every once in a while a dish will strike me differently and I’ll want to do more research and give it more than just a once over just because I had to cook it in 45 minutes,” says Flay.

Chapter Oneis unlike Flay’s previous cookbooks. “This is definitely the most important book for me that I’ve done. I’ve never done a book with this kind of approach, this very coffee table-esque style of book.” he says. “This isn’t the at-home cookbook. I wanted this to be a collector’s item.”

source: people.com