Deborde, Rob

PERSONAL:

Married. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking, outdoor activities, dining out.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Portland, OR. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer for Good Eats (television program); host of animated Internet cooking show, Deep Fried, Live! With Tako the Octopus.

WRITINGS:

Fish on a First-Name Basis: How Fish Is Caught, Bought, Cleaned, Cooked, and Eaten, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Rob deBorde is one of the creators of Deep Fried, Live! With Tako the Octopus, a highly popular animated cooking show available on the Internet. It features Tako, an octopus character originally created by deBorde as part of a comic strip. Tako uses his eight legs to help him cook, but occasionally loses a leg in the process. In addition to helping create the recipes featured on the show, deBorde also cowrites the scripts, helps with animation, and provides voices for most of the characters.

DeBorde is also the author of Fish on a First-Name Basis: How Fish Is Caught, Bought, Cleaned, Cooked, and Eaten. Each of the eighteen chapters in this book is devoted to a particular kind of seafood, including squid, scallops, tilapia, and catfish. Basic scientific information on each species is given, along with various ways to cook them. The information is presented in a humorous style. Fish on a First-Name Basis was described as "quick, witty, and highly entertaining" by Nicole Mitchell in Library Journal. DeBorde's humor was also appreciated by Mark Knoblauch, who in Booklist praised deBorde for the way he "demystifies the murky, intentionally confusing world of fish and shellfish marketing."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 2006, Mark Knoblauch, review of Fish on a First-Name Basis: How Fish Is Caught, Bought, Cleaned, Cooked, and Eaten, p. 53.

Library Journal, April 1, 2006, Nicole Mitchell, review of Fish on a First-Name Basis, p. 117.

Publishers Weekly, November 28, 2005, review of Fish on a First-Name Basis, p. 43.

ONLINE

Eight-Legged Entertainment,http://8legged.com/ (May 16, 2007), biographical information about Rob deBorde.

Just Laugh,http://www.justlaugh.com/ (May 16, 2007), biographical information about, and interview with, Rob deBorde.