Even the world's finest cooks have their off days. Here 33 chefs and food writers talk about the times when it all went terribly wrong.

There are stories about greedy pets, clumsy waiters and drunken maitre d's; the food that fails to arrive for a party, wedding cakes that disintegrate, the terrine that falls into a bowl of chocolate sauce.

Then there are the rueful, embarrassed stories of errant youth. How the chefs manage to save the day is as entertaining as the disasters that strike them.