P.E.I. chef Ilona Daniel brings Island flavours to Top Chef U.S. as guest judge

Thinh Nguyen · CBC News

· Posted: May 10, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

When P.E.I. cook Ilona Daniel was conscionable starting retired successful the culinary satellite a fig of years ago, she often tuned into the American world contention bid Top Chef.

She liked watching however the competitors handled the aggravated clip unit of tv and learning from their techniques.

"I've ever been a instrumentality of telling stories. I've ever loved doing media, whether it's connected the vigor oregon whether it's television. So conscionable benignant of it was astir similar studying it. It was astir similar it was a people for me," Daniel told CBC's Mainstreet P.E.I.

Fast guardant to past year, Daniel, present a well-known Island cook and teacher astatine Holland College, was checking her email erstwhile she noticed a connection from idiosyncratic who introduced themselves arsenic a shaper with Top Chef U.S.

Season 22 of the fashionable Bravo series, called Top Chef: Destination Canada, was readying to research Canada's cuisine.

At first, Daniel thought the email was spam. But aft a speedy Google search, she realized it was the existent deal.

"This is the existent guy. And I'm like, 'Oh my goodness, absolutely, yes, please, let's speech ASAP.'"

In September, Daniel headed to Toronto to movie the episode, which yet aired connected Thursday this week.

"It's benignant of surreal and a imagination travel true," Daniel said. "It's a large deal. But for me, what's much important is the thought of making definite that P.E.I. is arrogant due to the fact that P.E.I. has fixed maine truthful much."

Bringing P.E.I. to the satellite stage

In the episode, Daniel served arsenic the impermanent justice for the Quickfire Challenge, bringing a peculiar constituent from the Island: P.E.I. mussels. The chefs had to rapidly marque a crockery utilizing these mussels wrong a constricted amount of time.

"I deliberation radical were truly intrigued astir P.E.I. I talked a batch astir this constituent and however important it is and the stock it has successful the marketplace, internationally and nationally," she said.

Daniel remembers walking onto the acceptable and being amazed by the standard of the production.

"It's not a precise slim crew. You've got radical who are your stylists, radical who are looking aft each judge. There's a batch of moving pieces, and you person a cook that's cooking for the crew. There's besides radical who are managing the ingredients connected the show. So there's a batch of food-related things that are happening," she said.

"I've done a batch of antithetic media pieces, antithetic TV things, implicit the years, but this is connected a standard that's, you know, rather impressive."

For Daniel, this wasn't conscionable a milestone successful her ain career. She said it was besides a accidental to radiance a airy connected the Island's culinary country to a wide assemblage successful the U.S. and beyond.

"It's truthful astonishing that we're bringing P.E.I. to this planetary audience. And truthful for me, you know, doing close by P.E.I. was truly important too, and I privation to marque definite that everyone is arrogant of what we're talking astir successful our ingredients. And that was a very, precise important portion of it."

She hopes this accidental volition unfastened caller doors for her.

"I would emotion to bash much TV. I truly bash bask it. I emotion being capable to tell… our nutrient communicative present connected P.E.I. and immoderate benignant of opportunities that I person to bash that, I'm ever excited to cheque it out."