I’m currently re-watching all the seasons of Top Chef with my boyfriend. It’s interesting to compare the early seasons to the current season- seeing how much has changed, but also seeing the essence that has stood the test of time.
I don’t miss the drama of the past seasons. In earlier seasons it got to be too much, to see, for example, the other Chefs bullying eccentric and talented Chef Marcel, which escalated way beyond where it should have, or another Chef using the B word to describe talented and competitive Chef Tiffani Faison, which should never have been allowed to fly, or the push, in past seasons to goad the Chefs into speaking poorly about each other’s dishes or contributions to a team. There were some Top Chef winners and eliminated Chefs serving as sous Chefs to the finalist who behaved poorly or seemed to purposely handicap certain Chefs, because of disliking them. Namely, the sous Chefs who disliked Chef Tiffani had a wild night before the final, and were hungover while helping here at such a critical stage. Chef Hung did not consider others, even on a basic safety level- breaking glass in the kitchen, running with a knife, and having clear moments where he had finished his dish, and it would not have inconvenienced him to help another Chef out, and he clearly did not in the hopes that they would fail.
In this season, it seems like it’s no longer “cool” to be mean to each other on television. You see a lot of collaborative spirit in this season. The Chefs are (shock) collegial to each other. You see them being supportive of each other in the team challenges, and helping each other with the last minute plating, rather than hoping for others to fail. You could tell after the second elimination that some of the other Chefs really cared for the Boston Chef, Chef Valentine, who left. Long hugs, and sincere moments abounded.
Of course, the most notable difference is the change of host, from a person that has become synonymous with Top Chef- Host, Padma Lakshmi. She was lightyears ahead of the initial host of the show, adding a confident opinion, more cooking expertise and knowledge of cuisines from around the world, and panache to the conversation that goes on at Judge’s Table. The way Padma says, “Please pack your knives and go” and other key phrases became such a staple, because she hosted for so many seasons. But change, is not necessarily a bad thing. Chef Kristen Kish brings a different vibe to hosting this new season. She is a past Top Chef winner, who actually made her way back to win Top Chef after having to go through Last Chance Kitchen. She has hard earned wisdom to impart on the other Chefs, and possibly some more empathy for them. I know in the past, Judge Tom Colicchio has said that he is not the Chefs’ mentor, which makes sense, since he is a Judge. However, there’s no reason that Kristen can’t take on a supportive role, as long as she doesn’t give an unfair advantage to anyone with something she says. It’s not entirely clear the kind of host Kristen Kish will be yet. So far, she’s a little playful- telling Chefs to go back when they sprinted ahead of when she said to go. She’s stylish, like Padma, but in a different way. It’s awesome that she brings a different kind of life-experience- having been adopted and learning about her birth parent’s culture over time, being gay, being on the adventurous side (she did a traveling National Geographic show, Restaurants at the End of the World).
I’m excited to see what this show brings. Already, I’m happy to see that there’s more diversity. I am glad that the palate of the Judges has evolved over the course of all the season too, to be more open to cuisines apart from European cuisines, for example, Mexican cuisine, and also to not be judgmental of certain cooking techniques, like they may have been a little in the past, when it came to molecular gastronomy or sou vide techniques. It’s awesome to see the early success in the competition of a Chef who immigrated from Mexico, Chef Manny, with his pozole and mole (very traditional dishes), and of a female black Chef who started her cooking career later in life and whose most recent focus has been as a pitmaster, Chef Michelle, who blew the Chefs away with her pasta in the first competition.
This season there seems to actually also be not as much tolerance for bullying behavior. The Chef who was knocked off after the first round took a few jabs at Judge Tom Colicchio that seemed mean-natured, and was kind of an attention seeker with his big talking, but ironic underperformance. He didn’t get a second chance at Last Chance Kitchen, where, instead, a brand new Chef went up agains the Chef eliminated in the second round. I think the Producers must have decided that this kind of behavior did not merit a second chance.
