The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a television series that originally aired on Food Network, debuting on June 22, 2009 (after a preview on June 20). The program originally aired as a one-time special in late 2008. After being cancelled by The Food Network, it was brought back on the Cooking Channel in 2018. It consists of chefs picking out favorite dishes they have eaten in places throughout the United States, in specific categories.

Contributing Chefs/Hosts

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Switch to The Cooking Channel and Season 7

The original broadcast of The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Seasons 1–6, were on The Food Network from 2009 to 2011. In 2018, the show switched to The Cooking Channel. Season 7 did not have any new restaurants. Rather, episodes were compilations from the previous 6 seasons. Episodes were based on cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, with the previous restaurants from those cities featured in each episode. Starting with Season 8, episodes would consist of new restaurants and food items, with a mix of old and new contributors.

Season 8

Season 9

This season was a mix of "compilation" episodes (with footage from seasons 1–6) and newly produced episodes. Compilation episodes are so marked and do not have a segment listing.

Season 10

Episode 4 was the only "compilation" episode this season (see Season 9 above), and as such has no segment listing.

Season 11

Seasons 12 and 13

According to the Cooking Channel website, episodes for seasons 12 and 13 have been produced and aired, presumably in 2021 and 2022, respectively. However, as of 2024, these episodes have not been posted to the Max service (current streaming service for Discovery networks), and only selected episodes of season 12 are available through their FOOD NETWORK GO and COOKING CHANNEL GO services.

All-Star Best Thing I Ever Ate

In 2020, the Food Network aired an eight-episode hour-long series spin-off of the show entitled All-Star Best Thing I Ever Ate, featuring the network's biggest chefs sharing both their favorite foods & locations along with some of their own recipes fitting the given subject. Episodes consisted of newly recorded segments and reused footage from both older episodes and (in the case of the "CHEF'S RECIPE" entries below) the presenters' cooking shows.