Bravo Finally Announced The Release Date For Top Chef Season 19

In case you missed it, the premiere date for Top Chef Season 19 has finally been announced by Bravo. The season will premiere on Thursday, March 3, when fans of the cooking competition can watch the contestants attempt to master challenges in the season's featured city: Houston, Texas. Speaking on the upcoming season in September 2021, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told Houstonia, "We are proud of the diverse community and unique heritage that makes our city such a hot culinary destination — from classics like Tex-Mex and barbecue to local inventions like Viet-Cajun and Japanese Tapas."

While episode summaries have yet to be published, information about what the Top Chef contestants will face are slowly surfacing. Bravo shared some details, like how the challengers will be tasked with feeding visitors at the city's famous Asian Night Market, develop foods that could be enjoyed in space, and source ingredients directly from the Gulf. Additionally, as Houston has the largest Nigerian population in the United States, at least one Quickfire Challenge will "spotlight Nigerian cuisine."

Padma Lakshmi tweeted in celebration of the new season release date announcement. While most Top Chef fans were excited, her post did not receive universal adulation. "Not going to lie," one person responded. "TC is one of my favorite shows, but it's disheartening to see you all filming and giving money to states like Texas who are waging an all-out war on women's rights, trans rights and voting rights."

This is a similar fallout that the state of Texas has enjoyed since it passed a ban on abortions after four to six weeks. Recently, some on Twitter called for a PepsiCo boycott after past donations to the Texas Republican party came to light.

As Reality Blurred writes, this has been an issue since the location for season 19 was announced in September, just months after the ban was passed. The pop culture critic reported that Lakshmi posted a few statements to social media on the matter, including sharing that the people of Houston were primarily opposed to the bill, that she feels assisting local organizations attempting to combat the bill was important, and that public shows of progressive ideology on social media count for little when not paired with actual support.