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It's one thing to cook dinner with limited time, special ingredients and a major prize package on the line – and Chef Michael Voltaggio, who beat out his own big brother, Bryan, to win season six of Bravo's Top Chef, knows exactly how to deliver that kind of meal under pressure.

It's a whole other world to take those culinary skills to more than a dozen conflict zones around the world and throw a dinner party for people who otherwise would be facing off over deep, sometimes century-old schisms.

That's why for Travel Channel's new docu-series, Breaking Borders, Voltaggio is paired with award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller. Together they head directly to the heart of major global hot zones, from Egypt to Cuba to Northern Ireland, seeing first-hand – and for Voltaggio, for the first time – how locals eat, argue and try to make peace. It's an unlikely but effective approach, bolstered by Voltaggio's...

Start sharpening your knives now, unknown culinary pros: Bravo Media has renewed cooking competition “Top Chef” for Season 13.

The next wave comes to a simmer — and TV sets — in fall 2015. Meanwhile, its open casting call for talent kicks off on Feb. 3 in Nashville and Seattle.

Also Read: Neil Patrick Harris Tests Top Chefs, Emmy Acting Nominees Toast Each Other (Photos)

A day later, Part 2 of the three-part Season 12 finale from Mexico will air. On it, the remaining three chefs take a surprise visit to the lush organic farm, Purisima de Jalpa on the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,...

It’s almost hard to imagine that Top Chef is still on the air but even in its twelfth season, it’s as delicious as ever. The Bravo series, which has taken the chefs (and viewers) from New York to New Orleans, is now calling Boston home as it puts a new group of contestants to the test in what looks to be the series’ toughest season yet. Gail Simmons, who has served as a judge since the show premiered in 2006, is still amazed by the enormity of what the franchise become. “If you would have told me then that I would still be making the show and still be in this role, I would never have believed you,” Simmons says. “We’re still making great food television and eating really delicious food.”

In an interview with VH1, Simmons opens up about dishing out harsher critiques, welcoming former contestant Richard Blais to the judges’ table,...

It’s almost hard to imagine that Top Chef is still on the air but even in its twelfth season, it’s as delicious as ever. The Bravo series, which has taken the chefs (and viewers) from New York to New Orleans, is now calling Boston home as it puts a new group of contestants to the test in what looks to be the series’ toughest season yet. Gail Simmons, who has served as a judge since the show premiered in 2006, is still amazed by the enormity of what the franchise become. “If you would have told me then that I would still be making the show and still be in this role, I would never have believed you,” Simmons says. “We’re still making great food television and eating really delicious food.”

In an interview with VH1, Simmons opens up about dishing out harsher critiques, welcoming former contestant Richard Blais to the judges’ table,...

The biggest question going into the finale of "Top Chef Duels," besides who would win, was how exactly the show would go from 10 chefs to one in a single episode. The answer: very quickly. "Top Chef Duels" has been the best "Top Chef" spin-off in part because it was friendly but tough competition between talented people, but also because each episode only had two contestants who served just five plates of food each. It was, for a show that has a countdown clock, very thoughtful and deliberate but never boring. Everything from the pacing to the slow-motion footage highlighted their technique and food. By comparison, the finale felt like fast food, quick and empty. At the end of that super-fast, chaotic hour, only one chef remained standing: Chris "Cj" Jacobsen, who never made it to the finals on either of his previous two "Top Chef" appearances, won the $100,000. Tiffani Faison,...

Curtis Stone is a chef with a lot on his plate. The Top Chef Duels host opened his first restaurant, insta-hot spot Maude in Beverly Hills, earlier this year and is a regular on the morning-talk show circuit, appearing frequently on The Chew, The Talk, Today—anywhere flavor is required. Not to mention, Stone and Lindsay Price have their second child on the way! The couple, who tied the knot in June 2013, are parents to a 2 1/2-year-old son, Hudson Stone. So how does the Australian chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and family man balance it all? "You've just got to have your priorities right," he told us when we caught up with him for the E! special Food...

Curtis Stone and Gail Simmons are back on Top Chef Duels, watching as Top Chef alums compete in the ultimate cooking showdown. Curtis and Gail visited our New York studio to chat about the show, which airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m./9 p.m. Central on Bravo, and to dish about the eclectic palates of celebrity guest judges like Pink and Shailene Woodley. Plus, Curtis and Gail spoke about their own approaches to cooking and revealed why their kitchens are a little different now that they're both parents of young children.

Crank up the heat! The new Bravo series Top Chef Duels pits 18 past winners, finalists and fan favorites from Top Chef, Top Chef Masters and Top Chef All-Stars in ferocious one-on-one competitions that will play upon each chef's weaknesses and lead — at the end of 10 weeks — to the grand champ winning $100,000. Judge Gail Simmons offers up a tasty appetizer.

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