Name a chef who wears green eyeshadow, sequined purple sweaters and leather pants with a zip-out crotch. Chances are, you're still searching. That is, unless you've tuned in with millions of other viewers to watch Cooking Channel's Bitchin' Kitchen, where celebrity chef Nadia G totters around on heels higher than some ears of corn.
Nadia G (Giosia) has been cooking in stilettos for about 10 years now, but not always on broadcast television. She launched a cooking show Bitchin' Kitchen on the web in the early aughts, around the time she was also experimenting with a skit comedy web series. In 2010, Food Network Canada signed Nadia, and she became the first online lifestyle brand to successfully make the jump from Internet to prime time. After six months, the brand-new Cooking Channel snatched her up. The result? A "comedy cooking show" run by firecracker chef Nadia G.
The show assaults the senses, and many would argue, in a good way. The camera pans in on Nadia's toned biceps and sparkling nail polish as she pulverizes a bowl of peeled tomatoes with her bare hands. When it zooms out, you'll spot a pair of naked baby dolls poised treacherously over her kitchen sink. And don't forget the colors — aside from red appliances and a pearlized pink backsplash, Nadia's kitchen cabinets change color nearly every episode.
But many fans are more entranced by Nadia herself. The Canadian-born daughter of Italian immigrants punches out a voice that sounds more Manhattan than Montreal. She even has her own vocabulary — "Let's Shkoff" in place of "Let's eat" — and purposely mispronounces words like "turmeric" and "tortilla." With her tough-girl exterior and crippling hand gestures, she croons punk-poetry to her viewers: "Roses are red, violets are blue. When the cops come, say I was with you."
Somehow we can't quite picture The French Chef saying something like that. Nonetheless, Nadia tells Mashable she welcomes being dubbed "the Julia Child of the Net Generation." "I think where that comes from is that she didn't take herself that seriously. And I think some of that kind of balls-to-the-wall attitude is where some of the similarity is drawn."
You won't see many significant differences between Nadia's earlier web series and her present-day cooking show. She's had a firm grasp on her personal brand since the beginning, which meant retaining everything from web rights to cookbook concepts, from rock 'n roll costume changes to unrefined cooking techniques. ("I don't hold my knife like a chef. I don't care to.")
In the beginning, she tirelessly tested and prepared filming before officially launching her web series. "You don't just turn on a camera and do a cooking show," says Nadia. "If you want to go somewhere with something, you've got to make it look like what it's supposed to look like five years from now."
To Nadia, that means investing in a microphone and audio equipment, as well as setting aside time to learn all the necessary software required to make a web series look professional. Although already a self-proclaimed "Photoshop ninja," Nadia had to hunker down for 48 hours to teach herself InDesign.
She also advises, "Enslave boys. Make them fall in love with you and get them to pick up a camera."
Don't worry if you don't get it right the first time, she says. Her first video was 13 minutes long — when she tested it on friends, she saw the red light go on in their eyes.
After trial and error, Nadia finally streamlined her concept, both in the business and in her kitchen. What mattered most was having solid, basic technique plus great inspiration. "You know, we don't have any decorative sprigs of rosemary; we're not placing little matchstick radishes onto an hors d'oeuvre…The food's gotta taste good. The concept's gotta taste good," she says.
One of the most underrated stepping stones to fame is awards, says Nadia. And they don't even need to be big ones. "Make mountains out of molehills…Don't go for the Webbys; go for smaller awards that are still significant. So what if only you are at the awards ceremony?"
In 2010 Nadia won Digital Media Woman of the Year at the Canadian New Media Awards, and won Most Addictive Reality Star at 2012?s NewNowNext Awards, among many other awards and nominations before transitioning her show to television.
But before TV, Nadia had to ensure that her web content got in front of the right people, both in the biz and out. However, she didn't pander to today's viral-obsessed culture. Her marketing approach was more about slow and steady growth by building an audience and earning their trust over time. "Sometimes I have an allergic reaction to the word 'viral.' It could be a squirrel farting and it would go viral. But can you reproduce that squirrel farting? Probably not…So, would I say that Bitchin' Kitchen went viral? No, because it's overnight success after 10 years."
Another contributor to her success has to do with her mainstream appeal, an outcome even Nadia G couldn't predict. The Bitchin' Kitchen team initially anticipated a TV audience of 25-35-year olds, but soon welcomed demographics from children to middle-aged viewers.
She admits that some parents are hesitant to let their kids watch the somewhat suggestive Bitchin' Kitchen. But others welcome a female role model who's smart, funny and retains her self-esteem. "Compared to a lot of other role models out there which are just acting the fool, particularly in reality television," she says. "Or role models that are creating an unrealistic persona that no one can ever attain: the happy housewife with a mop in one hand and a cellphone in the other.
"Even the older generation is really sick of the pastel, polite hostess. They're pretty much done with it, too."
On the other hand, how was Nadia able to reach such a wide audience with a persona that seems so complex? After all, with her thick accent, punk attitude, glam style, retro taste and Italian-Canadian roots, Nadia wears a lot of hats. One would think a show involving all these personalities would seem a little schizophrenic.
"That's who I am, and I think that's why it works," says Nadia. "Often with television, particularly with lifestyle entertainment, they really try and box you in…But this is like, yes, people are complex. You can be smart and still look hot. You can be a punk rocker yet have a refined vocabulary. It's all about this mashup that makes us who we are and I think that's a beautiful thing."
Have you caught Bitchin' Kitchen fever? What do you think about Nadia G's YouTube-to-television trajectory? Have we only seen the beginning of web series success? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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