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The Ultimate Dish

Top Chef Winner Melissa King: What Changed When I Stopped Holding Back

March 10, 2026·51 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

In today’s episode, we welcome Melissa King, Top Chef All-Stars champion, record-breaking competitor, cookbook author, and host of National Geographic’s Tasting Wild. Melissa shares what changed between her first season of Top Chef and her return to win it all. She opens up about growing up shy, fighting for her dream of culinary school, and the moment she stopped replicating other chefs and started cooking from her own identity. We talk about mentorship, discipline, sacrifice, and why compet...

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