Martha Stewart, Gordon Ramsay Are the Most Popular Food Personalities on Twitter

It's hard to believe, but prior to March 2006, Twitter did not exist. Since then, it's become vital to the news cycle and food world at large, with phrases such as "tweet before you eat" now heard from New York to Nevada. Photographic food porn aside, chefs, cookbook authors, and food television personalities have profited from Twitter's accessibility and wide adoption. Because it has always been more publicly accessible than Facebook, chefs and food folk are able to interact with followers on a personal level and provide everything from insights into their daily lives to regular question-and-answer sessions to commentary on their last meal.

As the site has evolved, Eater wondered about Twitter's current power players in the food space. Here they are, the 20 most popular* food personalities on Twitter.

Martha Stewart, @MarthaStewart 3,065,376

Gordon Ramsay, @GordonRamsay, 2,293,780

Anthony Bourdain, @bourdain, 2,097,500

Rachael Ray, @rachaelray, 1,526,382

Guy Fieri, @GuyFieri, 1,462,980

Paula Deen, @Paul_Deen, 1,352,387

Bobby Flay, @bflay, 1,248,055

Giada DiLaurentis, @GDeLaurentiis, 1,136,424

Andrew Zimmern, @andrewzimmern, 784,796

Mario Batali, @MarioBatali, 734,297

Emeril Lagasse, @Emeril, 695,632

Tyler Florence, @TylerFlorence, 629,802

Tom Colicchio, @tomcolicchio, 512,393

Rocco DiSpirito, @roccodispirito, 425,425

Rick Bayless, @Rick_Bayless, 413,598

MIchael Chiarello, @ChefChiarello, 341,419

Chris Cosentino, @offalchris, 245,768

Eric Ripert, @ericripert, 209,993

Alex Guarnaschelli, @Guarnaschelli, 198,054

Raymond Blanc, @Raymond_Blanc, 173,209

*Follower counts are as of 5/27; they all have since increased.