16 of America’s most celebrated chefs compete for a million-dollar prize in Padma Lakshmi’s high-stakes culinary competition
Once upon a time, cooking was something that took place in kitchens, behind closed doors, with a singular purpose of creating a meal. Thanks to televised competitions like Iron Chef, Top Chef, Chopped and their ilk, the act of creating food has now become an Olympic-style event that plays out in TV studios, rife with drama, upsets and surprise twists — and viewers can’t get enough.
The ante has been upped significantly with new CBS series America’s Culinary Cup, in which 16 of the most decorated chefs in the U.S. compete in this “high-stakes culinary competition series.” As the CBS press release explains, these chefs are the crème de la crème, including six with Michelin stars (an honour held by less than one per cent of restaurants worldwide), two Bocuse d’Or medalists, two James Beard Award winners and 14 James Beard Award nominees.
Each episode sees these elite chefs doing battle, “bringing their unique flair and signature dishes to the table.” With a US$1-million prize awaiting the winner at the finish line, “chefs must rise to the challenge or crumble under the heat.”
A familiar face to foodie fans serves as host: Padma Lakshmi, emcee of Top Chef from 2006 until her exit in 2023. She’s joined by acclaimed chefs Michael Cimarusti and Wylie Dufresne, who lend their ample expertise as judges, with the competition focusing on 10 “culinary commandments” — meat, vegetables, sauces, dessert, innovation, flavours, sustainability, world cuisine, consistency, and culinary science and technology. “Lakshmi, Cimarusti and Dufresne will evaluate taste, creativity, presentation and technique to decide who advances, who is eliminated and who ultimately masters the commandments to claim America’s Culinary Cup,” the release adds.
When it came to casting the show, Lakshmi — who is also an executive producer — was adamant about only recruiting the best of the best from the U.S. fine-dining scene. “I think we really wanted the most lauded, top, elite chefs across the country,” she says. “So I was just looking to find the best and brightest chefs. Giving away a million dollars makes a lot of chefs come out of the woodwork who would never consider competing on television. And so we were very lucky in the pool we got, but they’re not just chefs who have high calibre of expertise and accolades. They also have really interesting stories. We have Keith [Corbin], who spent a decade behind bars and in prison and now hires formerly incarcerated people in his kitchen. We have a guy named Michael [Diaz de Leon], who used to be part of a cult with his family. We have one of our chefs who was pregnant. We have another chef who was supposed to get married and postponed her wedding. So, while they’re all very talented, they all are also super-interesting, diverse people.”
Given her nearly two decades of experience with Top Chef, Lakshmi feels this new show “is obviously the biggest swing I’ve taken on television . . . I thought that the genre was ready for a shakeup, for a refresh and for something new and different. And I wanted to be the one who did it.”
As for the show’s “culinary commandments,” Lakshmi explains that they were “designed to be something that tests the mettle of our chefs in every aspect of their career, but it also is designed to be something that’s very approachable and understandable by anyone who’s ever cooked for their family . . . it’s like meat, dessert, vegetables. It’s not anything that’s so unapproachable for someone who’s not a chef or doesn’t work in food.”
Understandably, judging the quality of one dish vs. another can be somewhat subjective, even to those with the most sophisticated of palates. That’s why, when devising the judging criteria, “I wanted a numerical system because I wanted it to be quantifiable,” Lakshmi says. “I wanted it to be apparent for the audience at home. I wanted it to be empirical and for them to be able to follow along with stats along the way. I mean, we only have the real estate we have with airtime, so a lot of that we don’t actually delve into. But it’s there for our benefit, for the chefs’ benefit, and also for the audience’s benefit.”
According to Cimarusti — who owns two Michelin-starred restaurants in Los Angeles (Providence and Connie and Ted’s), that evaluation system places contestants on a level playing field. “By rating people numerically, I think it takes all the bias out of it,” he explains. “Because while I know what I’m scoring a dish, I have no idea what Wylie might think. I mean, there’s a little bit that goes on during the debate; you get an idea. But I have no idea what he’s scoring a dish or the way Padma might be scoring a dish. Honestly, I think it makes it much more fair, you know? It’s less about opinions and debate and more about how I actually scored a dish or how Padma actually scored a dish or how Wylie did.”
“And there’s a lot of really great, fun, interesting twists along the way that are around the scoring,” adds fellow judge Dufresne, a familiar face to Top Chef viewers for his frequent appearances as guest judge. “I think that that’s going to be exciting for people to see and follow along and root for and cheer for at home.”
Meanwhile, Lakshmi promises the cook-off that viewers witness on America’s Culinary Cup will be very different from what they may be expecting. “When all the other shows are zigging, I wanted to zag,” she says. “I want to do a show that just tests the mettle of every great chef in every way possible. There are no tricks. I’m not going to be putting obstacles in their way. This is a very pure show that aspires to be the Olympics of cooking, the Wimbledon of cooking.”
America’s Culinary Cup, airing Wednesdays on Global & CBS