Gail Simmons

EXCLUSIVE
  • Culinary Expert and Food Writer
  • TV Personality and Judge for BRAVO's Emmy Award-Winning Series 'Top Chef'
  • Host, 'Top Chef Amateurs' and 'Iron Chef Canada'
  • Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Babson College and Co-Founder, Bumble Pie Productions

Gail Simmons is a trained culinary expert, food writer, and dynamic television personality. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Gail moved to New York City in 1999 to attend culinary school at what is now the Institute of Culinary Education. She then trained in the kitchens of legendary Le Cirque 2000 and groundbreaking Vong restaurants, and worked as the assistant to Vogue magazine’s esteemed food critic, Jeffrey Steingarten. Throughout her career, Gail has contributed to several books, including It Must’ve Been Something I Ate by Steingarten, Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking in New York City and The New American Chef, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page.

Since the show’s inception in 2006, she has lent her extensive expertise as permanent judge on BRAVO’s Emmy-winning series Top Chef. Now entering its 21st successful season, Top Chef is rated the #1 food show on cable television. She was most recently co-host of The Good Dish, the daily syndicated series offering delicious recipes, real-life wisdom, and conversations on the topics of the day, and was formerly host of Top Chef: Amateurs, as well as Iron Chef: Canada. She was head critic on Top Chef: Masters, host of Top Chef: Just Desserts, Bravo’s pastry-focused spinoff of the Top Chef franchise, and co-host of The Feed, which aired in 2014 on FYI.

Gail’s first cookbook, Bringing It Home: Favorite Recipes from a Life of Adventurous Eating, was released by Grand Central Publishing in October 2017. Nominated for an IACP award for Best General Cookbook, it features recipes inspired by Gail’s world travels—all made with accessible ingredients and with smart, simple techniques for successful family meals and easy entertaining. Her first book, a memoir titled Talking With My Mouth Full, was published by Hyperion in February 2012.

From 2004 to 2019, Gail served as Special Projects Director at FOOD & WINE magazine, writing a monthly column, creating cooking videos, and working closely with the country’s top culinary talent on events and chef-related initiatives. During her tenure, she was responsible for overseeing the annual Classic in Aspen, America’s premier culinary event. Prior to working at Food & Wine, Gail was the special events manager for Chef Daniel Boulud’s restaurant empire. In 2014, Gail and her business partner Samantha Hanks, founded Bumble Pie Productions, an original content company dedicated to discovering and promoting new female voices in the food and lifestyle space. Their first series, “Star Plates”—a collaboration with Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films and Authentic Entertainment—premiered in Fall 2016 on the Food Network.

In addition, Gail makes frequent television appearances on NBC’s TODAY, ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS’s The View, and the Tamron Hall Show, among others. She has been featured in publications such as People, New York magazine, Women’s Health, Travel + Leisure, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, US Weekly, Los Angeles Times, and was named the #1 Reality TV Judge in America by the New York Post. Along with her appearances at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, she makes regular appearances at the nation’s foremost culinary festivals, including BottleRock, the Austin Food & Wine Festival and Charleston Wine & Food Festival.

Gail was appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Babson College, a mentoring role where she worked with student entrepreneurs through 2019, helping them develop food-related social enterprises. She has received the Award of Excellence by Spoons Across America, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children about the benefits of healthy eating. She is an active board member and supporter of City Harvest, Hot Bread Kitchen, Common Threads, and the newest Global Ambassador for Children in Conflict, an international organization committed to protecting, educating and providing critical aid for the world’s most vulnerable children affected by war.

 


Gail Simmons headshot
Past Hosts Include:
  • Sarasota Manatee Jewish Federation
  • Auntie Anne's
Rave Reviews About Gail Simmons as a Speaker
She was such a hit and the crowd here loved her! She thanked us for all the work and appreciated our organization so that was very nice. She really added a lot to the event!

Virtual Discussion - On life with Covid and the impact on restaurant industry | Build From Home [19:40] - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Gail Simmons
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Virtual Cook & Chat with Gail Simmons

Top Chef judge GAIL SIMMONS won't be able to critique your cooking, but she will be able to guide you through some of the elevated recipes she has created for the home chef.  While she cooks, she dishes on behind-the-scenes stories from her hit Bravo show Top Chef, and shares pantry essentials for e ...

Top Chef judge GAIL SIMMONS won't be able to critique your cooking, but she will be able to guide you through some of the elevated recipes she has created for the home chef.  While she cooks, she dishes on behind-the-scenes stories from her hit Bravo show Top Chef, and shares pantry essentials for every home chef. 

Talking With My Mouth Full

When GAIL SIMMONS first graduated from college, she felt hopelessly lost. All her friends were going to graduate school, business school, law school . . . but what was she going to do? Fortunately, a family friend gave her some invaluable advice-make a list of what you love to do, and let that be yo ...

When GAIL SIMMONS first graduated from college, she felt hopelessly lost. All her friends were going to graduate school, business school, law school . . . but what was she going to do? Fortunately, a family friend gave her some invaluable advice-make a list of what you love to do, and let that be your guide. Gail wrote down four words: Eat. Write. Travel. Cook.

Little did she know, those four words would become the basis for a career as a professional eater, cook, food critic, magazine editor, and television star. Today, she's the host of Top Chef: Just Desserts, permanent judge on Top Chef and Special Projects Director at Food & Wine Magazine. She travels all over the world, eats extraordinary food, and meets fascinating people. She's living the dream that so many of us who love to cook and eat can only imagine. But how did she get there?

Based on her bestselling book, Talking with My Mouth Full, Gail shares follows her unusual and inspiring path to success, step-by-step and bite-by-bite. It takes the reader from her early years, growing up in a household where her mother ran a small cooking school, her father made his own wine, and family vacation destinations included Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East; through her adventures at culinary school in New York City and training as an apprentice in two of New York's most acclaimed kitchens; and on to her time spent assisting Vogue's legendary food critic, working for renowned chef Daniel Boulud, and ultimately landing her current jobs at Food & Wine and on Top Chef. She created a career that didn't even exist when she first started working toward it. With memorable stories and insights about the greatest (and worst) dishes she's eaten, foodie trends and beyond, Gail's presentations are a true feast.

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Biography

Gail Simmons is a trained culinary expert, food writer, and dynamic television personality. Since the show’s inception in 2006, she has lent her extensive expertise as permanent judge on BRAVO’s Emmy-winning series Top Chef. Now entering its 21st successful season, Top Chef is rated the #1 food show on cable television. She was most recently co-host of The Good Dish, the daily syndicated series offering delicious recipes, real-life wisdom, and conversations on the topics of the day, and was formerly host of Top Chef: Amateurs, as well as Iron Chef: Canada. She was head critic on Top Chef: Masters, host of Top Chef: Just Desserts, Bravo’s pastry-focused spinoff of the Top Chef franchise, and co-host of The Feed, which aired in 2014 on FYI.

Gail’s first cookbook, Bringing It Home: Favorite Recipes from a Life of Adventurous Eating, was released by Grand Central Publishing in October 2017. Nominated for an IACP award for Best General Cookbook, it features recipes inspired by Gail’s world travels—all made with accessible ingredients and with smart, simple techniques for successful family meals and easy entertaining. Her first book, a memoir titled Talking With My Mouth Full, was published by Hyperion in February 2012.

From 2004 to 2019, Gail served as Special Projects Director at FOOD & WINE magazine, writing a monthly column, creating cooking videos, and working closely with the country’s top culinary talent on events and chef-related initiatives. During her tenure, she was responsible for overseeing the annual Classic in Aspen, America’s premier culinary event. Prior to working at Food & Wine, Gail was the special events manager for Chef Daniel Boulud’s restaurant empire.

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Gail moved to New York City in 1999 to attend culinary school at what is now the Institute of Culinary Education. She then trained in the kitchens of legendary Le Cirque 2000 and groundbreaking Vong restaurants, and worked as the assistant to Vogue magazine’s esteemed food critic, Jeffrey Steingarten. Throughout her career, Gail has contributed to several books, including It Must’ve Been Something I Ate by Steingarten, Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking in New York City and The New American Chef, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page.

In 2014, Gail and her business partner Samantha Hanks, founded Bumble Pie Productions, an original content company dedicated to discovering and promoting new female voices in the food and lifestyle space. Their first series, “Star Plates”—a collaboration with Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films and Authentic Entertainment—premiered in Fall 2016 on the Food Network.

In addition, Gail makes frequent television appearances on NBC’s TODAY, ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS’s The View, and the Tamron Hall Show, among others. She has been featured in publications such as People, New York magazine, Women’s Health, Travel + Leisure, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, US Weekly, Los Angeles Times, and was named the #1 Reality TV Judge in America by the New York Post. Along with her appearances at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, she makes regular appearances at the nation’s foremost culinary festivals, including BottleRock, the Austin Food & Wine Festival and Charleston Wine & Food Festival.

In February 2013, Gail was appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Babson College, a mentoring role where she worked with student entrepreneurs through 2019, helping them develop food-related social enterprises. In April 2016, she received the Award of Excellence by Spoons Across America, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children about the benefits of healthy eating. She is an active board member and supporter of City Harvest, Hot Bread Kitchen, Common Threads, and the newest Global Ambassador for Children in Conflict, an international organization committed to protecting, educating and providing critical aid for the world’s most vulnerable children affected by war.