Why Padma Lakshmi Came Back to Cooking Competition TV for ‘America’s Culinary Cup’

America’s Culinary Cup brings Padma Lakshmi, who became famous for hosting Top Chef and has since hosted her own foodie travel series, Taste the Nation With Padma Lakshmi, back to the hosting table in the cooking competition realm. While she won’t be asking chefs to “pack your knives and go,” she will be heading up a very intense battle of flavors indeed with this new CBS series.

Speaking to press at CBS’s presentation at the Television Critics Association Winter Tour, including TV Insider, she revealed why she was drawn back into the competition realm once again with this new series.

“I’ve obviously had almost two decades of experience in the genre, and I thought the genre was ready for a shake-up, for a refresh, and for something new and different. And I wanted to be the one who did it,” she said.

CBS has now revealed the list of 16 competitors participating in the series, and it includes six chefs with Michelin stars, two James Beard Award winners, 14 Beard nominees, and more!

Read on to meet the chefs competing in the series and find out more about what’s ahead on America’s Culinary Cup.

When does America’s Culinary Cup premiere?

The series premieres with a 90-minute episode, following the premiere of Survivor 50, on Wednesday, March 4, at 9:30/8:30c. It will also be available to stream live and on-demand for Paramount+ Premium subscribers and on-demand next day for Paramount+ Essential members.

Who hosts America’s Culinary Cup?

Lakshmi serves as host, with Michael Cimarusti and Wylie Dufresne joining as judges for the competition. Of the judges, executive producer Susan Rovner said, “The casting of Michael and Wiley was very important because, obviously, we had the most elite chefs competing, so we had to find two people who could really wow the chefs when they walked into the room.”

What will America’s Culinary Cup challenge the chefs to do?

The chefs will be challenged in the “10 culinary commandments”: meat, vegetables, sauces, dessert, innovation, flavors, sustainability, world cuisine, consistency, culinary science, and technology.

Said Lakshmi, “I asked a lot of people who are the best, ‘What are the most fundamental skills that every world-renowned chef has to master?’ And that is how we did it. Those are the principles of cooking… They’re designed to be something that tests the mettle of our chefs in every aspect of their career, but it is also designed to be something that’s very approachable and understandable to anyone who’s ever cooked for their family.”

She also said that the chefs will be provided with top-tier tools to compete with. “If you’re asking Serena Williams to play at Wimbledon, you’re not gonna give her a crappy racket,” she said. “These chefs all think they’re the best. We think they’ve got a good shot at being the best. So we want to see what they can do when they have all the ingredients that are as high a standard as possible, when they have all the toys, all the equipment.”

Who are the chefs competing in America’s Culinary Cup?

The 16 chefs competing in the new cooking competition series are as follows: