American Culinary Series ‘Top Chef’ Comes To Canada Amid A Simmering Trade War

The new season of American competition show “Top Chef” is set in Canada, and judge Gail Simmons says the timing “couldn’t have been better.”

It’s the first time the culinary showdown series ventures to the Great White North, arriving amid a simmering Canada-U.S. trade war.

Simmons believes it’s an opportunity to unite food lovers on both sides of the border and give Americans a deeper appreciation of Canada.

“I think we’ll actually teach our neighbours to the south just how beautiful this place is, how friendly and welcoming it is — and also that having good neighbours is important,” said the Toronto native Friday during a media event in her hometown, deliberately rocking in a denim-on-denim Canadian tuxedo for the occasion.

“Top Chef: Destination Canada” kicked off last week on Bravo and will see chefs bring the heat to various Canadian cities, including Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. Along the way, it will feature Canadian dishes, landscapes and guest judges like Michael Cera.

It premiered days after President Donald Trump slapped 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canada countered with tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods. Meanwhile, Trump has made continuous calls for Canada to become a U.S. state, which “doesn’t make any sense,” said Simmons, who has been a judge on the series since 2006 and now lives in New York.

While the cross-border tension has prompted calls within Canada to boycott American goods and culture, Simmons isn’t worried about a similar sentiment brewing among “Top Chef” audiences stateside.

“I don’t think the majority of U.S viewers are apprehensive about Canada. I think that comes from a higher place that has nothing to do with most citizens,” said Simmons, adding that most Americans “don’t know that much about Canada and have never given it that much thought.”

She believes the Canada-set season is “a really positive way” to approach the relationship between both countries.

“I think most (Americans) will learn a lot, get to see a lot of Canada that has never been shown before, all through the lens of food. And food brings people together. It doesn’t separate them,” she said.

The premiere episode of “Top Chef” — not to be mistaken for “Top Chef Canada,” a separate competition airing since 2011 — plunges contestants into Canada’s vast and diverse culinary scene. They are tasked with crafting dishes that highlight ingredients native to each of the country’s five regions: Pacific salmon and foraged mushrooms from the West Coast; snow crab and dulse seaweed from the Maritimes, for instance.

Nearly all this season’s contestants are from the U.S., save for one — Massimo Piedimonte, a Montreal chef and owner of Cabaret l’Enfer. Simmons said it was a chance to educate American chefs about the depth of Canadian cuisine.

“The point of ‘Top Chef’ is that (contestants) always blend their own personal histories and heritage with the place that they’re in to create something new,” said Simmons, who judges along with U.S. chefs Tom Colicchio and Kristen Kish.

“It’s a lot of discovery and exploration, and they always come away, no matter where we go, with a deep respect and understanding of that place.”

Simmons says her co-judges have turned to her as their unofficial Canadian tour guide, but she admits that filming the season was just as much a learning experience for her. She gained a deeper understanding of the country, particularly when it comes to First Nations and Inuit diets.

“I learned about probably seven or eight different berries that I’ve never seen before, that are really staples of their diet. Also learning about their traditions that go back thousands of years in the country that I grew up in, that was really beautiful and eye-opening,” said Simmons, who worked as a food journalist before joining “Top Chef” as a judge in its first season.

She also enjoyed exploring more of Toronto’s diverse culinary scene, from the rich flavours of the Filipino community to the vibrant traditions of Caribbean cuisine.

Simmons says this season concentrated on “the immigrant pathways” throughout Canada’s cities that “have really informed the way that we all eat as Canadians and how proud we are of our culture, how proud we are of just generally being Canadian.”

She says she’s gained a new appreciation for her homeland over the years.

“I wasn’t particularly patriotic when I grew up here. But as soon as you leave Canada, you realize that there’s kind of nowhere better.”

“Top Chef: Destination Canada” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo in Canada and streams on Citytv+.