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 a 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 the 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.
