With the latest series heating up in London, the host talks about her love of British pies, why American cheese is ‘very extreme’ and her favourite chocolate bar of all time
“London is a food gateway,” says Gail Simmons. “It’s a multicultural city like nowhere else in Europe, with its own food traditions, but really, from a food perspective, it’s a story of immigration.”
Now in its 20th season, shot in London with a global cast of previous winners, Top Chef is the most famous competitive cookery show you’ve never heard of – if you’re a British reader. Not only is it the No 1 food show on cable in the US – the previous series had 7.3 million viewers – but the format has been exported to 29 countries, although not yet to the UK, perhaps because we have our own blockbuster shows: MasterChef, Great British Menu and, of course, Bake Off.
