FOREWORD

by Tom Colicchio

Gail Simmons eats her way through life. Sounds simple enough—we all do, right? Nope. Not like this.

Food is not just Gail’s job. It’s what fires her up and sets her in motion (well, that and chasing her three-year-old, Dahlia).

Most of us eat at regular intervals in our lives; Gail eats her way through life. These are different things. When Gail is not eating, she’s thinking about what she ate last night, writing about what she ate this morning, planning what she’s going to eat tomorrow, etc. Whereas most people eat while enjoying life’s experiences—for Gail the food itself is the experience.

For a normal person this would seem compulsive, even borderline obsessive. Fear not: Gail is one of the healthiest, most upbeat, thoroughly honest, balanced, and charming people on the planet. She doesn’t need therapy to deal with her food obsession. She just needs more food.

I first met Gail when she was working with Jeffrey Steingarten on an article about the perfect steak. I don’t remember too much about the encounter other than those eyes, that smile, that intellect, and the genuine hunger to plumb, to taste, and to catalog everything there was to know about steak. Aging, marbling, grilling… this wasn’t just a job for Gail, it was a mission. When it was all done, most researchers would have sworn off beef for a few months; Gail probably went out for a burger.

In the years that we’ve worked together on Top Chef, I’ve come to see Gail as more than a co-judge. For one, she’s become a great friend. She shares my passion for beef jerky and licorice (the real kind, not the red stuff). She is always reassuringly seated to my left which makes me feel good, as I know it means we can expect a serious food discussion (as in seriously informed and passionate, not serious-boring). Gail’s opinions about food come directly from her own encyclopedic experiences as an eater. At the Judges’ Table, that leads us to richer discussions and deeper, more meaningful debate. When the future of an aspiring chef is at stake, that’s a good thing.

Top Chef has taken us eating around the world. For years now, I have been blessedly freed from the rigors of travel research because Gail has the list. On our days off from filming, Gail has anywhere from eight to twelve off-the-beaten-track food options only the locals have heard of, thanks to her personal network of fellow food obsessives who know exactly which hawker stand in Singapore or strip mall in Vegas we must visit that minute. And while most of us enjoy these exotic tastes and move on, Gail files the flavors and techniques away in the vivid hard drive of her memory and then mines them later in her own home kitchen for the people she loves.

This book is your chance to experience this for yourself—the world as seen through the eyes of a passionate eater, brined in Jewish common sense, leavened with Canadian decency and good humor, then distilled into achievable recipes for the home cook. It’s your invitation to join Gail for dinner, for the pleasure of the food and the wonderful stories and singular point of view that only she could bring. Cheers!