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Speaker 1: I Am all in Again. Oh, let's you.

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Speaker 2: I Am all in Again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.

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Speaker 1: Hey Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am All In Podcast one

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Speaker 1: eleven productions. iHeart Radio Media, iHeart Podcast. Luke's Diner with

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Speaker 1: Gail Simmons. You know her from TV, you know her

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Speaker 1: from books. She is a culinary expert, best known as

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Speaker 1: longtime judge on the hit cooking competition show Top Chef

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Speaker 1: since its inception in two thousand and six. After earning

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Speaker 1: her degree from McGill University, she trained at culinary school

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Speaker 1: and built her career in food media and rush Strong culture.

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Speaker 1: She worked in the New York food scene with a

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Speaker 1: renowned restaurant group owned by chef Daniel Boulud, and then

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Speaker 1: she joined with the Food and Wine magazine as a

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Speaker 1: contributing writer and director. She's also an author of her

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Speaker 1: memoir cookbook talk Talking with My Mouth. Oh that's very

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Speaker 1: good title. That's very clever title. Where we shared stories

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Speaker 1: where I had nothing to do with it, where she

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Speaker 1: shared stories from her life in the food world. Gail

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Speaker 1: has also teamed up with co Benfe Connections and an

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Speaker 1: initiative with Bristol Myers squib to shift the narrative around schizophrenia. Well, Gail,

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Speaker 1: welcome to the show. Thank you for thank you, thank.

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Speaker 2: You so much for having me. I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Our pleasure. Well, let's take it back. What first sparked

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Speaker 1: your interest in food? Did you grow up around your

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Speaker 1: family always cooking?

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Speaker 2: I did. I really did, actually as much as when

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Speaker 2: I was younger. I hated to admit it. My mother

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Speaker 2: was an extraordinary cook, and not just out of an

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Speaker 2: amateur pastime, but she ran a cooking school for the

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Speaker 2: local community out of my home. So every day when

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Speaker 2: I come home from school, she would be running cooking

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Speaker 2: classes in our kitchen. And when the school got too

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Speaker 2: big for our own kitchen, she moved it to the

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Speaker 2: local middle school. And she also wrote a food column

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Speaker 2: in the Globe and Mail. I grew up in Canada,

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Speaker 2: and the Globe is Canada's biggest newspaper, So I spent

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Speaker 2: a lot of my childhood around great food, but more importantly,

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Speaker 2: around the table and around my mom cooking you know,

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Speaker 2: really interesting food. It wasn't that it was ever fancy,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't that it was precious at all, or you know,

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Speaker 2: like unusual. It was just really thoughtful, made with love

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Speaker 2: and care, and it forced us all to spend a

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Speaker 2: lot of time together around the table because she insisted

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Speaker 2: that we favor it. And I think that was a

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Speaker 2: lesson I really took into my adult life and of

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Speaker 2: course made into my career.

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Speaker 1: That's wonderful. There's just nothing better family food conversation. There's

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Speaker 1: just it doesn't get better than that. My favorite part

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Speaker 1: of the day is when my family is seated around

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Speaker 1: the table and we're talking about the day.

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Speaker 2: You know, I agree, and it happens less and less

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Speaker 2: you know, these days, especially.

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Speaker 1: Right right, I insist on it. I insist, I insist,

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Speaker 1: I insist, Well, it's it's important.

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Speaker 2: It was an important lesson that I took a bit

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Speaker 2: for granted growing up. But as an adult now with

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Speaker 2: my own kids and family running in seven directions, you

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Speaker 2: just realize that that's where the connections are made, that's

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Speaker 2: where the honest conversations happen, where you feel safe, where

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Speaker 2: you can really sort of like reconnect at the end

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Speaker 2: of a day.

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Speaker 1: Mm hmmm, yep a percent. All right. So you started

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Speaker 1: your career as a food journalist writing restaurant reviews in Montreal.

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Speaker 1: Did you realize that that time that this could become

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Speaker 1: a career. Is that what you were aiming.

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Speaker 2: For, not even a little bit. And I'm sure with

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Speaker 2: your career you felt the same, Scott. You don't. You

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Speaker 2: can't imagine it because you don't even know the path

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Speaker 2: that exists. Yet you know, it was an untraditional path

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Speaker 2: for sure coming out of college. And those first restaurant

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Speaker 2: reviews were for my college paper as a lark, you know,

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Speaker 2: as like something fun to do because I got to

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Speaker 2: go out with my friends for dinner and then talk

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Speaker 2: about it, and I thought it was cool. But even

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Speaker 2: when I was doing it, I didn't think that it

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Speaker 2: was actually a job, because of course, your parents don't

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Speaker 2: tell you that that's a job. Your parents want you

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Speaker 2: to take a traditional job that maybe would help you

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Speaker 2: pay your all rent sooner, and so it really wasn't

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Speaker 2: in my purview. And only when I graduated from college

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Speaker 2: and I moved home and decided that I wanted to

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Speaker 2: be a journalist and then started working, you know, as

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Speaker 2: an intern and as an assistant editor at local Canadian media,

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Speaker 2: did I keep kind of falling towards the food and

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Speaker 2: lifestyle sections. And it was then that I realized, Okay,

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Speaker 2: this is what I want to do. This is my path,

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Speaker 2: this is my passion. And it was then that an

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Speaker 2: editor sort of said to me, well, then go do it.

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Speaker 2: But also, just because you like to eat doesn't mean

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Speaker 2: you can write about food as an expert. So first

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Speaker 2: you got to get a little experience. And I moved

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Speaker 2: to New York and that's how I set out to

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Speaker 2: do it. I went to culinary school.

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Speaker 1: That's fascinating.

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Speaker 3: All right.

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Speaker 1: So you've been, you know, part Top Chef since the beginning,

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Speaker 1: since tw.

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Speaker 2: One, episode one. Yeah, twenty years of my life. It

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Speaker 2: was only six when we started, obviously.

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Speaker 3: So.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, chef Yah Child Project who had three years old,

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Speaker 1: was writing editorial.

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Speaker 2: Really an exceptional palette.

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Speaker 1: Motive.

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Speaker 2: It is unbelievable, right, yes, exactly, It is unbelievable that

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Speaker 2: Top Chef when we started was really the first food

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Speaker 2: competition of its kind, especially at that level of chefs

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Speaker 2: and cooking, and it was doing something so different, and

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Speaker 2: twenty years later, we're still doing it. I mean there

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Speaker 2: have been changes to the production, as you can imagine,

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Speaker 2: We've grown bigger. The quality of the chef, you know,

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Speaker 2: of the talent that we're able to attract is higher

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Speaker 2: and higher. Every season, but ultimately the show hasn't changed much,

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Speaker 2: And I think it's about discovering talent and sort of

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Speaker 2: throwing open the door to the kitchen and watching people

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Speaker 2: like thrive and compete with their incredible skill, a skill

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Speaker 2: that we as kind of citizens don't get see every day.

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Speaker 2: It's amazing. It's amazing I get to still have a

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Speaker 2: front receipt and twenty years later, I'm still doing that show.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there are very few television shows in the

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Speaker 2: world that have been on this long.

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Speaker 1: No, yeah, I mean the Simpsons, The.

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Speaker 2: Simpsons, the Simpsons survivor Night Live. You know, there's a handful.

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Speaker 2: There's a handful, but it is rare, and it's certainly

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Speaker 2: rare in the food space because food television didn't even

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Speaker 2: exist until about thirty years ago.

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Speaker 1: To begin with, twenty years of chefs, yes, thousands of meals.

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Speaker 2: Prepped meals, hundreds of chefs who've gone on by the

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Speaker 2: way to do incredible things like they're all now, you know,

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Speaker 2: household names in the industry, which is great too, because

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Speaker 2: it's really their talent.

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Speaker 1: In your experience, right, what qualities does a chef have

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Speaker 1: to possess that make them stand out to you beyond

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Speaker 1: like technical skills.

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Speaker 2: So what is That's a great question, actually, so I

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Speaker 2: think perseverance, you know, practice the patients, and perseverance to

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Speaker 2: do the same thing over and over and over again

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Speaker 2: until you get it right. Just you know, people tell

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Speaker 2: me all the time, oh, I'm not a good cook,

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Speaker 2: I'm not a food I'm a terrible cook. And my

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Speaker 2: answer is always like, well, you're a terrible cook because

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Speaker 2: you don't cook the same way. I'm a terrible basketball player.

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Speaker 2: And I'm never going to be in the NBA. I've

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Speaker 2: accepted that. But the reason only is that I just

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Speaker 2: haven't put in the hours right, just like anything else,

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Speaker 2: you know, the tenth. I'm not saying I can actually

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Speaker 2: be in the NBA if I put in the hours,

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Speaker 2: but well, I certainly could be in the NBA, but

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Speaker 2: maybe the w NBA. Who knows.

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Speaker 1: I actually think, I think, I think I think you could.

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Speaker 1: I think if there's something about you that tells well,

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Speaker 1: you know.

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Speaker 2: I'm not very tall. I'm not sure, but that doesn't

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're right, you're right. But that's my

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Speaker 2: point exactly. That like determination, perseverance and patience to really

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Speaker 2: believe in a craft and in the micro details of

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Speaker 2: learning that craft. I don't think you're born with it.

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Speaker 2: Some people maybe are born with a penchant more towards it.

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Speaker 2: They have a natural talent, But everyone needs training and

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Speaker 2: honing and and focus, right, And I really believe, especially cooking,

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Speaker 2: anyone to be a great cook, you just need to

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Speaker 2: put in the hours at the stove to learn the technique.

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Speaker 2: The technique, the technique is all there, everything's already been invented, right.

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Speaker 1: And you know when you were in the presence of

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Speaker 1: a master because they you know, they've put in the

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Speaker 1: time and it consumes there every day.

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Speaker 2: That's right. That's right. And there's so many incredible talents

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Speaker 2: in this country now more than ever, cooking food that

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Speaker 2: is so diverse and onspiring and so delicious and really

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Speaker 2: meaningful culturally. And you know, I think it's just it's

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Speaker 2: a moment where there's so much great inspiration out there.

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Speaker 2: So it's such a joy watch, all right.

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Speaker 1: More about Top Chef. Was there a moment or was

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Speaker 1: there a challenge that you recall that that that changed

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Speaker 1: how you think about food?

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Speaker 2: God, there's been so many challenges that have introduced me

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Speaker 2: to something new. Right, every season, every meal we eat

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Speaker 2: that's the beauty about a dish. You could make it

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Speaker 2: a hundred times, it can never be the same. And

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Speaker 2: every day we get to taste new things. We travel

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Speaker 2: for this show, right, we are not a studio show.

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Speaker 2: We travel all over the country, all over the world.

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Speaker 2: We've been from New Orleans to Chicago, to California, to

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Speaker 2: Singapore and Tuscany and Paris and Hawaii. You know, we

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Speaker 2: travel the world and everywhere we go there are new ingredients,

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Speaker 2: there are new techniques, there are new cultural nuances that

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Speaker 2: we learn about three food right, And I don't know,

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Speaker 2: there are so many moments that I walk away having

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Speaker 2: like a deeper understanding of something right of the way

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Speaker 2: we eat, and I'm trying to think of like one

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Speaker 2: specific moment, but certainly the season that just premared on Bravo,

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Speaker 2: this week's season twenty three, which was set in the Carolinas,

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Speaker 2: there were there were moments where I learned a lot,

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Speaker 2: especially about you know, the region of Appalascia, like Appalachian cooking,

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Speaker 2: which is you know, has roots in the kind of

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Speaker 2: mountainous area of the Carolinas. I found so fascinating because

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Speaker 2: so many of the techniques are sort of getting lost

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Speaker 2: it's a very oral culture passed down and there's ingredients

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Speaker 2: and techniques in cooking that are being lost if they're

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Speaker 2: not being shared. And as much as they were new

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Speaker 2: to me, it also was just like a great reminder

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Speaker 2: that cooking is about connection and about you know, kind

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Speaker 2: of like family through generations and techniques that you need

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Speaker 2: to sort of keep alive. And I think that was

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Speaker 2: really important because it makes you remember that we all

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Speaker 2: have this common humanity, you know, and that we all

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Speaker 2: have these things in our culture and through our families

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Speaker 2: that we share, and that if we don't act as them,

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Speaker 2: will be forgotten.

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Speaker 1: So what surprised you of the most about the season's contestants?

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Speaker 1: Is there any anybody that pops for you?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah? Oh yeah. This season actually is really interesting

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Speaker 2: because we have two firsts on the show that create

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Speaker 2: really interesting dynamics and not necessarily dynamics that people think

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Speaker 2: we had identical twin brothers, which is wild, not just

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Speaker 2: for the show's energy and dynamic and to see their

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Speaker 2: relationship and their competition, because there were days when I

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Speaker 2: think they didn't even notice that anyone else was in

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Speaker 2: the room because they're just so focused on beating each other.

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Speaker 2: But also to think that in their family, two boys

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Speaker 2: who both became chefs at such a high level, Like

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Speaker 2: what was happening? I want to meet their mom. I

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Speaker 2: want to know what drove both of them. It's like

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Speaker 2: when you see I don't know, like the Kelsey brothers,

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Speaker 2: you know, and they're both in the in the NFL,

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Speaker 2: and like how did they Like what was mam m

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Speaker 2: Kelsey doing in that household that made them both such

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Speaker 2: elite athletes? And that's really interesting to me about chefs.

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Speaker 2: So that was a really cool dynamic. And then there

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Speaker 2: was also a couple who are business partners but also

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Speaker 2: life partners, and they ran a restaurant together, but they

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Speaker 2: were competing on the show against each other. And that

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Speaker 2: was really interesting too because we've never had that before.

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Speaker 2: We've had people who met on the show and went

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Speaker 2: on to maybe have a little bit of a love

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Speaker 2: in risk over the years or create really deep connections,

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Speaker 2: but to come together and then have to turn on

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Speaker 2: each other and what does that do for your relationship

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Speaker 2: and for your business? It's just interesting to watch.

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Speaker 1: All right, So you've gotten to know, I am sure

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Speaker 1: over twenty years some amazing chefs and continue to be

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Speaker 1: friends with them. Here's a scenario for you. They appear

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Speaker 1: on the show, they become a big chef, they open

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Speaker 1: up their own successful restaurant. You show up, they sit

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Speaker 1: you down. What are they feeding you?

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Speaker 2: Oh my god? You know it's funny because I love

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Speaker 2: that I've eaten all of their food in so many ways,

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Speaker 2: but never on their own turf.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: I'm always really excited because the whole point of our

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Speaker 2: show is to take them out of their comfort zone.

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Speaker 2: If we want them to just cook the food they

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Speaker 2: always gook, we would just go to their restaurants, right,

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Speaker 2: But instead we make them do the opposite. So when

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Speaker 2: they then leave us and either go back to the

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Speaker 2: restaurant or open new restaurants, I love visiting them all

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Speaker 2: over the country and eating their food because it's often

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Speaker 2: the food that I know they're capable of, and it's

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Speaker 2: really special and great. But it's like two point zero

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Speaker 2: because they've taken all the things they've learned, and so

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Speaker 2: I just want them to show me what they love

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Speaker 2: and what's their favorite. I mean, every restaurant's so different,

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Speaker 2: every cus eatings so different. You know. There's so many

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Speaker 2: chefs who then have gone on to like something that's

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Speaker 2: happened on our show many times. That I think is

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Speaker 2: really interesting is chefs come on and they're at the

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Speaker 2: level where they're the chef of a restaurant, but it's

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Speaker 2: someone else's restaurants. So we had this one amazing woman,

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Speaker 2: Chinese American woman, but she was the head chef at

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Speaker 2: a very famous Italian restaurant, so she cooked Italian food,

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Speaker 2: you know, most of her career, and she cooked it well.

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Speaker 2: But when she got to our show, we kept kind

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Speaker 2: of pushing her, like, what's authentic to you? How do

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Speaker 2: we get to know you tell us your story, not

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Speaker 2: the story of the person you worked for. And slowly

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Speaker 2: she started cooking us the food of her heritage. And

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Speaker 2: then when she left, she went on to open an

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Speaker 2: extraordinary Chinese restaurant with all that amazing training that she

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Speaker 2: took with her, and like, that's when you really get

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Speaker 2: to know someone, right, The same thing happened. So there was,

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Speaker 2: you know, a chef who was cooking Asian food and

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Speaker 2: he went on to open one of the only find

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Speaker 2: out in Asian restaurants in America that has now won

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Speaker 2: like every award in the world. But he was not

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Speaker 2: cooking Asian food for the public when he came to

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Speaker 2: be on the show with us, but he started to think,

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Speaker 2: you know what, I'm going to show up my culture

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Speaker 2: and like it blew us away. So that's what I

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Speaker 2: want to eat. I just want to eat the food

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Speaker 2: that tells your story, right right?

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Speaker 1: All right? So tell us about COLBNV Connections and up

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Speaker 1: opening up the conversation about schizophrenia. Why is this important

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Speaker 1: to you?

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Speaker 2: Uh, you know, it's deeply important to me. It's something

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Speaker 2: that I haven't spoken about a lot. But my brother,

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Speaker 2: my eldest brother. I have two brothers, and my eldest

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Speaker 2: brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his mid twenties and

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Speaker 2: he did not take cobenfee. But being on his mental

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Speaker 2: health journey for so many years with him, I realized

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Speaker 2: that it is a very misunderstood diagnosis, and it's a

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Speaker 2: very complicated diagnosis. It's hard to treat and it is

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Speaker 2: it can be debilitating and difficult, not just for the

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Speaker 2: person themselves but for their care partners. And so when

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Speaker 2: I was when I decided to when I got to

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Speaker 2: know the COLBENFI Connections campaign, which really is about having open,

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Speaker 2: honest conversations with people living in schizophrenia and their care

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Speaker 2: partners to help find the treatment they need. It just

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Speaker 2: really hit home. And as we spoke earlier, Scott, I

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Speaker 2: think all those honest conversations really happened at the table,

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Speaker 2: and that for me is the entryway and the connection

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Speaker 2: that I have to not only tell my story about

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Speaker 2: my family's experience with schizophrenia, but to help others. And like,

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Speaker 2: if someone sees me and identifies with that, and sees

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Speaker 2: me as a as a a personality or a person

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Speaker 2: out in the world who's also struggling and who has

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Speaker 2: struggled deeply with their family and mental illness, then perhaps

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Speaker 2: it'll help them feel less alone, and that is really important.

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Speaker 2: When I was first doing research about the Kabenfi Connections campaign,

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Speaker 2: I came across a celebrity that I knew, an actor

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Speaker 2: who I really admire, and he was telling his story

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Speaker 2: about his sister and their relationship and dealing with her schizophrenia,

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Speaker 2: dying nosis and living with scuitspreading it and it was

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Speaker 2: so powerful to me to see that and to know

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Speaker 2: that he had the courage to talk about it openly,

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Speaker 2: and it gave me the courage to do the same.

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Speaker 2: So that was what prompted me to be part of

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Speaker 2: the campaign, and as part of the campaign, I was

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Speaker 2: able to you know, sit down for a meal and

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Speaker 2: share cooking a meal and then eating a meal with

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Speaker 2: a few people living with schizophrenia and their care partners.

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Speaker 2: And it just proved again that message of like gathering

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Speaker 2: at the table, learning to take the time to cook together,

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Speaker 2: not because cooking helps schizophrenia specifically, but obviously just to

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Speaker 2: create those connections and that safe space. I find cooking

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Speaker 2: is a really awesome shared experience for a family, and

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Speaker 2: then sharing the food that you make can be very powerful,

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Speaker 2: and it creates a place of safety and community, and

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Speaker 2: that allows for deeper conversations and ultimately I hope to

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Speaker 2: get peopleeople to talk about their symptoms, talk about their needs,

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Speaker 2: and find the right path to treatment and support.

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Speaker 1: If you want to know more about Gail's partnership, visit

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Speaker 1: connections dot b MS dot com. That's right, very moving,

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Speaker 1: Thank you, very very moving, and just so much respect

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Speaker 1: for you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much, thank you for letting me share

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Speaker 2: that with you. Scott. I really appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Please come back anytime, anytime and we can talk more

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Speaker 1: about it.

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Speaker 2: Appreciate that we.

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Speaker 1: Have one final question, and it's probably the most important question.

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Speaker 2: Let's hear it.

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Speaker 1: As you know, I played a character who owns a diner.

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Speaker 1: If you were to come into Luke's diner, uh huh.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I love this question because I love your diner,

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Speaker 2: your imaginary diner, but I also love a diner. You

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Speaker 2: give it to me. Oh love a diner. Sorry I interrupted?

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Speaker 2: What's the no?

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Speaker 1: No, no, it's all good. So if you're coming to

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Speaker 1: Luke's diner, what do you order? And where do you sit?

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Speaker 2: Oh? I sit at the bar.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, at the counter.

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Speaker 2: I love a solo diner experience too, but I sit

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Speaker 2: at the counter. I usually order a coffee or maybe

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Speaker 2: a float, maybe a float from feeling real crazy. You

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Speaker 2: know what my classic diner order if I often, I

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Speaker 2: love a diner breakfast. But if it's a lunch time,

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Speaker 2: my order is a tuna melt and a Greek salad.

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Speaker 1: Very nice.

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Speaker 2: That's my order at and a Greek salad obviously, fries

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Speaker 2: and a pickle on the side.

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Speaker 1: Order you gotta have fries with I don't care if

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Speaker 1: you have a sell that's beautiful order.

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Speaker 2: Thanks.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sharing uh your experience with

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Speaker 1: us and remember uh, schizophree you is real uh and

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Speaker 1: Gail is doing something about it, helping people to understand

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Speaker 1: and connect connections dot b ms dot com. That's connections

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Speaker 1: dot b ms dot com. Check it out. Gail lovely

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Speaker 1: chatting with you. Please come back on you to you

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Speaker 1: so much and all the best and uh, good luck

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Speaker 1: with everything.

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Speaker 2: Thank you next time at the diner.

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Speaker 3: Next time, everybody up again.

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Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram at i I Am all In

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Speaker 1: podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com