Celebrity Chef and Horse Eater Gordon Ramsay Jumps on Horses for Swollen Face

Gordon Ramsay has been known to grow a bit red and puffy about the face in a heated kitchen. The celebrity chef and reality television personality can turn positively scarlet and spout blue streaks at contestants on "Hell's Kitchen." He can huff and puff on "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" and "MasterChef."

However, within the past week, Gordon Ramsay has been particularly puffy, leading paparazzi to ponder the possible appearance of hair plugs, botox treatments or other aesthetic amendments. In fact, Los Angeles photographers caught Gordon Ramsay wearing a medical cap and sporting a bloated face, with his eyes nearly swollen completely shut. His hair was disheveled and seemed to be receding farther than usual from his forehead as well.

Did celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay have cosmetic surgery?

Gordon Ramsay says nay, blaming horses for his facial swelling.

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay told London's "The Sun" that the recent variations on his visage were caused by an allergic reaction to a horse and a gas spill.

The popular 44-year-old towheaded television personality denied having plastic surgery or hair transplants. Instead, he claimed he had taken a horseback ride during the holidays, which caused an apparent equine allergy to flare up. Chef Gordon Ramsay added that he had been splashed with gasoline during a television shoot as well, while filming an episode of the seafood cooking show "The Big Fish Fight."

"I had petrol doused, gasoline poured all over my hair, and I had a horrific infection," Gordon Ramsay explained to "People Magazine" on January 20^th. "It certainly didn't cause my hair to be falling out. I was in Napa for Christmas literally two weeks after the shoot and went horseback riding with the kids and had a horrendous allergic reaction to the horse, combined with the problems I had with my scalp - so it was just a hair nightmare."

Perhaps ironically, Gordon Ramsay has been up close and personal with horses before - or at least, with horse meat.

An avid soccer (football in Europe) player and enthusiast and father of four children, Gordon Ramsay is not an equestrian sports fan. Gordon Ramsay and his wife Tana encourage their brood in athletics, but not exactly horseback riding.

However, Gordon Ramsay is no stranger to horses.

In 2007, the Scottish-born celebrity chef was embroiled in controversy, after Gordon Ramsay and then co-chef Janet Street-Porter barbecued horse meat and presented it to horse racing fans at the U.K.'s Cheltenham Racecourse during Gold Cup Week. The horse meat was reportedly imported legally from France.

On camera, chef Gordon Ramsay touted the apparent culinary and dietary benefits of horse meat. "It's quite gamey and packed with protein," he said.

This incident was filmed as part of the premiere episode of "The F-Word," Gordon Ramsay's British television show. Animal rights activists jumped all over Gordon Ramsay, Janet Street-Porter and others associated with "The F-Word." Protesters even dumped a ton of manure outside Gordon Ramsay's Claridge Restaurant in London.

Gordon Ramsay has handled and even tasted horse milk too.

In January 2010, Gordon Ramsay visited supermarkets, offering customers taste tests of horse milk. He also prepared rice pudding with horse milk, offering the dessert to restaurant patrons and tasting it himself on-camera.

Would a person with horse allergies actually take such risks?

Granted, most horse allergies are induced by horse dander (like cat, dog and other furry pet allergies), rather than from actually ingesting horse meat or milk.

Even so, the most commonly reported symptoms of horse allergies are not facial swelling or suddenly receding hairlines. Usually, those suffering allergic responses to horses will have any combination of these symptoms: coughing, itchy skin, runny nose, scratchy and watery eyes, sneezing and perhaps wheezing.

Additionally, a horse allergy might cause a skin rash, particularly on the hands, if an affected person were to pet a horse or actually pick up a set of reins and go horseback riding. In the most severe cases, such a rash might even cause a bit of swelling. But an allergy to equines would be less likely to cause facial symptoms, unless the affected individual were to nuzzle his or her face directly on the horse's face or coat. This would take a real horse lover (and probably not a horse-eater).

Gordon Ramsay could have rubbed his hands directly on a horse during his alleged holiday horseback riding excursion. If the celebrity chef and restaurateur is indeed allergic to horses, this might have caused a rash on his hands, although no photographs have revealed this. If he then rubbed his hands on his eyes, he theoretically could have spread an allergic reaction there, leading to possible swelling.

However, an antihistamine (either ingested or injected) would have alleviated these horse allergy concerns rather quickly. A recognizable celebrity, such as celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay would probably seek medical treatment immediately for facial swelling. He would be unlikely to suffer ill effects from an equine allergy for days or even weeks on end.

Chef Ramsay's behavior begs the question. Did celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality Gordon Ramsay honestly suffer a nightmare allergic reaction to horses, or is there more to the story of his odd temporary facial swelling?

Gordon Ramsay is recovering from whatever caused his temporary facial disfiguration.

"I can now say that I am almost 60-70 percent recovered," Gordon Ramsay said this weekend. Epicureans worldwide may be relieved to hear that, as Gordon Ramsay Holdings owns and operates restaurants in such cities as Doha, Dublin, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Paris, Sardinia, Tokyo and Tuscany.

A brand-new season of Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" premiered on Friday, January 21, 2011, on Fox TV, in which the celebrity chef appeared in back in the saddle in healthy form again.

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