Celebrity Gossip

Lisa DeJong, The Plain DealerRuth Kostadinov laughs with Sammy Jo Squire, right, as they prepare backstage for the Fabulous Food Show in Cleveland. Squire – a classically trained chef – coordinates the cooking-demonstration parts of the show. FOR SHOW DETAILS, SEE BELOW.

Heavenly smells waft through the sheath of black curtains leading to the backstage prep area at the main kitchen theater at the Fabulous Food Show at the International Exposition Center. Civilians are convinced that their rumbling tummies must sound like thunder on an open plain.

But the student chefs from International Culinary Arts & Sciences Institute in Chesterland at least seem to be oblivious to the aromatic ambrosia as they busy themselves slicin’ and dicin’, mincin’ and icin’. They’re focused and intent this Friday morning, if a bit star-struck by Bobby Flay and Duff Goldman, two of the celebrity chefs here.

Flay and Goldman, who will be joined by chefs Robert Irvine, Guy Fieri and Cleveland’s own Anne Thornton and Michael Symon during the three-day show, needn’t worry. Not with Sammy Jo Squire on the job. Squire self-deprecatingly describes herself as a “home economist.” That’s like calling the Goodyear blimp a balloon. Technically, it’s true. In reality, she is so much more.

The I-X Center hires Squire, a classically trained chef, to coordinate the cooking-demonstration part of the show, now in its sixth year. Cleveland isn’t the only place where she’s appreciated; Flay said Squire told him she spent only four weeks at her home — “at one of those shires outside London” — last year.

“Her personality is infectious,” Flay said. “She’s hard-working and professional.”

A typical day for Squire begins at 6 a.m. and ends past 8 p.m., and things run smoothly when she is around. The shallots are diced exactly the right size. Arugula is washed and ready. Recipes are followed to the letter, and everything is done on time, crucial for an event like this.

But Squire is more than just a conductor getting the trains into and out of the stations on time. She’s like a human Snuggie, allowing the chefs to worry about nothing but doing a good show.

Flay stood at one of the stoves arrayed like soldiers backstage, carefully watching a caramelized glaze for his pumpkin bread (the recipe is in his “Bar Americain” cookbook — “$34.95,” he jokingly told the packed theater during his demo), when Squire came up. Problem? Question? Crisis?

Nah.

“Let me tell you a story about David Beckham and Victoria [former Spice Girl Posh],” Squire said without preamble. Her big, brown eyes roll as she gets into the tale and becomes the physical manifestation of each little nuance.

Seems uber-skinny Victoria took her soccer-star hubby to a posh London restaurant for his birthday. He had a nice steak, well-cooked, well-seasoned. She, however, insisted on steamed fish with steamed veggies.

“With nothing on it because (bleep) knows how many (bleep) CALORIES are in (bleep) salt and (bleep) pepper!”

OK, there may have been one or two extra (bleeps) in there, but with Squire, it’s safer to add one or two. Victoria Beckham’s fish may have been spice free, but not Squire’s account of the night. Or anything else.

Ask her about a certain chef on the Food Network and you’ll get a nice little diatribe. But the thing about Squire is that her genuine smile and delightful delivery make the act of questioning someone’s species sound complimentary.

“Bloody,” “bleedin’ ” and “sodding” creep into any listener’s own vocabulary, especially watching her navigate an electric golf cart in the bowels of the I-X Center, racing between stages. Fortunately, no pedestrians were harmed in the making of this food show. Can’t say the same for a poor, defenseless weight anchoring a support.

“It’s only a bloody sandbag,” she said, laughing.

Tastefully.