Emeril Lagasse Reveals What He Really Thinks About 'BAM!'

Emeril Lagasse's infectious personality has been seen on more than 2,000 Food Network shows, and his upbeat attitude earned him the food correspondent position for ABC's Good Morning America, according to the celebrity chef's website. On top of that, he's the best-selling author of 19 cookbooks and somehow he still finds time to be the chef-proprietor of 12 restaurants. The Massachusetts native may have an impressive list of accolades under his name, but one of the things that stands out the most about Lagasse is his signature catchphrase, "BAM!" How does he really feel about being intertwined with the word, though? 

"I wouldn't change it," Lagasse told Bon Appétit. Without the spirited exclamation that is now synonymous with the chef, it's possible Lagasse's first go at television would've had some mishaps.

The celeb chef says that the off-the-cuff reaction came about when mixing a hard-working crew with too much good food. Lagasse explained to Rachel Ray that when he first started filming the Essence of Emeril, he had to squeeze it into two or three days before heading back to restaurant life in New Orleans. In order to keep to schedule, Lagasse was filming eight shows a day.

After about three or four shows the crew would break and stuff their face with as much food as they could. When they went back to filming the remainder of the shows for the day Lagasse recalls looking around thinking "everyone here is practically sleeping because they ate so much." So, Lagasse says in order to "wake them son-of-a-guns up" he started incorporating "BAM!" into his show routine to snap his crew back into action.

Lagasse says that to this day he gets people yelling it out as they pass. While we wouldn't recommend that being the first thing you say when meeting Lagasse in public, he says he won't mind if you just can't help yourself. It's become a part of him, he explains, saying, "I've tried 'pow.' I've tried all kinds of things. 'BAM!' is just kinda me."