Increased regional representation on Top Chef
Early seasons had large proportions of chefs from the Northeast and the West - and that’s changed over time.
There are many parts of our identities - and our food culture is one of them. Our tastes and preferences are dependent on where we live, our heritage, where we’ve traveled, our biology, and probably other factors as well. I looked at this list from Food Network of specific foods from each state, and was thrilled to see scotcheroos as the food of my home state of Iowa.
Top Chef is broadcast nationally, and purports to have the best-of-the-best chefs compete. But if only some regions of the United States are represented, how can they truly be the Top Chef? I took a look at how they have improved the representation on the show of the great diversity of chefs and cuisine in the country.
The proportion of chefs from the Northeast and West greatly declined from the first two seasons to the most recent five seasons. This trend holds true in the intervening seasons as well (not shown).