FOR CHEFS, EPICURES, and reality TV fans, Spike Mendelsohn burst onto the scene in 2008 when he placed in the top five on Emmy Award-winning Bravo series Top Chef. For the Canadian-born, Washington, DC-based chef, that was just the beginning of his rise to foodie fame. Now, at 40 years old, Mendelsohn has appearances on other TV shows including Top Chef: All-Stars and Iron Chef America, and even a hosting gig for Food Network’s Kitchen Sink under his belt. It seemed he was living the dream. But for Mendelsohn, becoming famous was never the end game.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, the chef was indeed passionate about food, but—as he quickly realized—only as a means of social justice. Without explicitly linking eating to such bigger issues as climate catastrophe, world hunger, and food deserts, Mendelsohn simply didn’t see the point.
And so, as organically as he had stepped into the limelight, he stepped
