Here is the full list of "cheftestants" for Season 2, which includes several chefs returning from Season 1 (marked with asterisks below):

Jody Adams – Rialto Restaurant, Cambridge, Mass.
Govind Armstrong – 8 oz Burger Bar, Los Angeles, Calif.
Graham Elliot Bowles – Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago, Ill. *
Jimmy Bradley – The Red Cat, New York, N.Y.
David Burke – David Burke Townhouse, New York, N.Y.
Wylie Dufresne – wd~50, New York, N.Y. *
Susan Feniger – Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
Debbie Gold – The American Restaurant, Kansas City, Mo.
Carmen Gonzalez – chef consultant, New York, N.Y.
Maria Hines – Tilth, Seattle, Wash.
Susur Lee – Madeline’s, Toronto, Canada
Ludo Lefebvre – Ludo Bites, Los Angeles, Calif. *
Tony Mantuano – Spiaggia, Chicago, Ill.
Rick Moonen – RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nev. *
Mark Peel – Campanile, Los Angeles, Calif. *
Monica Pope – t’afla, Houston, Texas
Thierry Rautureau – Rover’s, Seattle, Wash.
Marcus Samuelsson – The Red Rooster, New York, N.Y.
Ana Sortun – Oleana, Cambridge, Mass.
Rick Tramonto – TRU, Chicago, Ill.
Jerry Traunfeld – Poppy, Seattle, Wash.
Jonathan Waxman – Barbuto, New York, N.Y. *

Today marks the beginning of two weeks of fantastic food-oriented television programming. Gordon Ramsay expands his Kitchen Nightmares series to try and get people to eat at local restaurants; Jamie Oliver takes on the pork industry in an effort to get producers to improve their husbandry standards; Heston Blumenthal has a 3-part series on his reinvention of the UK Little Chef chain of roadside diners; and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall revisits last year’s Chicken Out campaign to see if his efforts really did encourage people to choose free-range chicken and think about where their food comes from.

Too bad you don’t get to see any of it.

The Great British Food Fight series is an annual event on Channel 4 in Britain, and generally deals with politically-charged issues having to do with food production – this year’s series also includes a show called The True Cost of Cheap Food hosted by Jay Rayner of the Guardian.

Enterprising Canadians who want to see these shows will likely have no trouble finding them available for download online, but everyone else will have to miss out. Which is too bad because many of these shows are dealing with important issues that should be at the forefront of any conversation about where our food comes from, yet those discussions still aren’t really happening here in North America.

Oh sure, there are plenty of concerned food writers and activists doing their part to advocate for better quality food, humanely-raised meats, support of local farmers, and ways to make good food more accessible to people in lower income groups, but for the most part, we’re preaching to the choir. We have no means of getting these issues out to a wider audience to encourage everyone to think about where their food comes from – and, more importantly, to provoke change.

In fact, other than an occasional piece on shows like CBC’s Marketplace, or the nightly news in the case of disasters like the Maple Leaf Foods listeria outbreak, there is no real mainstream source of information on food issues that is directed at the general public. Plenty of books are written each year on food issues, and film festivals like Planet in Focus run films about food, but again, it’s a “preaching to the choir” scenario where only those with an existing interest in the subject are going to seek out this form of media.

Learning about food (political or not) just doesn’t seem to be on the radar of most Canadians. The Food Network thinks we’d all rather see spoon-licking bobble-headed hosts in low-cut t-shirts; while reruns of The Great Canadian Food Show, hosted by Carlo Rota, get buried by the CBC in the weekday afternoon clutter where hardly anyone sees them.

So where are the chefs?

We know there are many Canadian chefs out there living and working with the same standards and principles as their UK counterparts; chefs who promote local and seasonal food; chefs who support local farmers and who even run their own farms; and chefs who source their meat from heritage breeds that are raised free-range and organic. So why doesn’t the general population hear more about that?

Are we too complacent? Is it the stereotypical Canadian humility that prevents us from promoting ourselves? Or is it that Canada hasn’t yet made the move to create “celebrity” chefs who have the attention of the majority of the population? Whatever the reason, the end result is that Canadian chefs are not taking on the role of teacher and mentor to show the people of our country how to eat better. And with no great food leaders to guide us, we follow our US and UK friends down the centre aisles and load our carts with crap.

Where are the Canadian chefs with a message to share, and where are the Canadian media outlets willing to deliver that message? More importantly, where are the Canadian chefs willing to risk the criticism that taking a political stance would surely provoke? There has to be a few of you out there. Michael Statlaander? Steffan Howard? Jamie Kennedy? Anthony Rose? Brad Long? And surely there has to be a mainstream media outlet (c’mon CBC!!!) that could see the worth of creating shows, even on a one-off or seasonal basis as Channel 4 does, that cause Canadians to sit up and think about how their food gets to their plates.

So often, I hear foodies bemoan the fact that Canadian restaurants just don’t measure up to the Michelin-starred options in the UK, and I’ll adamantly defend Canadian food and restaurants until I’m hoarse from arguing because I truly believe in what we’re doing in our own country. But this is one area where UK chefs and restaurants leave us in their dust.

Our chefs have the knowledge and experience to show Canadians what good food really means, yet no one seems interested in taking (or making) that opportunity to create a dialogue that would encourage the country to think about what we eat. Where are you, chefs, and why won’t you join in the food fight?

(Image nicked from the Channel 4 website - follow the link above to view the hilarious promotional trailer for the series.)

There's an endless and overwhelming amount of hype about the new and returning shows on the regular networks, so it's easy to not notice that new seasons are starting on the smaller niche channels as well.

This includes Food Network Canada, where they're launching their fall season this coming week with new episodes of old favourites like Restaurant Makeover, plus eight new (or newly imported shows), including The Main with Anthony Sedlak (pictured above), winner of last year's edition of Superstar Chef Challenge.

Descriptions and premiere dates for the seven new shows follow after the cut.

The Main
premieres Monday, October 1st at 6:30pm
The Main is a stylish half-hour of mouth-watering, visually appetizing dishes. In each episode, Chef Anthony Sedlak prepares a dish featuring one main ingredient.

At The Table With...
premieres Monday, October 1st at 9:30pm
An intimate and exclusive all-access pass into the hearts and minds of some of the world’s most celebrated chefs and food industry stars, At The Table With… is a thirteen-part, documentary-based biography series unlike any other. Part reality show, part reality check, At The Table With... aims to put the viewer there – in our subjects’ heads and in their kitchens – where pressure and passion are their very life-blood, hard work and innovation their most indispensable tools. Chefs profiled in the series include Susur Lee, Martin Picard, Daniel Boulud and Rob Feenie.

In Search Of Perfection
premieres Monday, October 1st at 10:00pm
Regarded as one of the greatest living chefs on the planet, Heston Blumenthal examines some of the UK’s everyday foods in an extraordinary way. Now he turns his attention to eight of the UK’s favourite dishes. From shepherd’s pie to fish and chips, Heston analyses every component and ingredient as he seeks to create the ultimate taste sensation. In his bid to source the best ingredients, he introduces viewers to food growers and providers from across the globe, as well as like-minded passionate researchers, chefs and members of his team.

Simply Delicioso
premieres Tuesday, October 2nd at 9:00am and 6:00pm
Ingrid Hoffmann makes every meal Simply Delicioso with her practical approach to easy Latin inspired dishes. Each episode is shot in her hometown - exciting and colorful Miami Beach - and features lively menus, clever tips and time-saving shortcuts to show you how to create American favorites with bold and surprising Latin accents.

Fink
premieres Tuesday, October 2nd at 10:00pm
Set amidst the clashing cultures and competing values of the unique town of Stratford, Ontario, the series will follow Fink through a school term at Northwestern Secondary. He will face endless obstacles trying to raise the consciousness of a generation bred on junk-food, run a funky fine-food alternative high school cafeteria, and take a wildly diverse group of Culinary Club students on a pilgrimage to Italy at term’s end.

Dinner: Impossible
premieres Wednesday, October 3rd at 10:00pm
In the fast-paced Food Network series Dinner: Impossible, Chef Robert Irvine is presented with challenges ranging from recreating an 18th-century meal using only methods, tools and ingredients from the 1700’s to creating and preparing a gourmet meal for a 200-person wedding in less than eight hours. Each week, Robert is thrown a new culinary curveball and the team must figure out a way to solve their challenge before time runs out.

Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger
premieres Thursday, October 4th at 9:00am and 6:00pm
Cooking healthy food can be quick, easy, but most of all, delicious. Nutritionist and author Ellie Krieger has created fast and simple healthy recipes for the real world. She'll show you how simple it can be to stay on the healthy track no matter how busy and stressful your life is. Ellie also has strategies for eating well in the most challenging situations: at the office, at restaurants, or even on vacation. Healthy Appetite will show you easy ways to eat better, live healthier, have more energy and feel great!

Food Safari
premieres Thursday, October 4th at 11:00pm
Food Safari is the next must-see food TV experience. Get ready to discover the best of world cuisine in an enticing blend of exotic food with down to earth practicality. Each of the 13 half-hour episodes details how to source, prepare and cook one specific cuisine with authentic results. Host Maeve O’Meara takes us deep into the cities and suburbs of Australia to uncover the very best food from Africa, South America, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

Joining the fray tonight (Tuesday, June 19th) at 10 PM is the third instalment of Superstar Chef Challenge on Food Network Canada. Unlike the previous two versions which shoved the entire competition into a single heavily edited episode, this edition will be spread out over six programs hosted by Kevin Brauch of Iron Chef America and Thirsty Traveller. Chefs Mark McEwan and Lynn Crawford will be judging the culinary abilities of the ten contestants, while Dominic Cyriax, the director behind Nigella Bites and other hit shows, will be looking for the star factor needed to become a successful celebrity chef.

And hopefully, the competitors this time around will be a bit more memorable than the previous ones so we'll actually remember the winner for more than a day or so after he or she is crowned.

And if you're anything like our editor-in-chief, you also watch to swoon over Ricardo. In which case you'll be happy to know that he'll be doing an online chat over at blogTV.ca on Friday night at 8 PM.

Also on the Food Network front, there are a bunch of shows set to premiere next week, including three new Canadian series and three older imports that will be airing in Canada for the first time. Full details are behind the cut...

Homegrown Shows:

Eat, Shrink & Be Merry
Premieres Tuesday, March 27th at 1:30 PM and 7:00 PM
Janet and Greta Podleski create healthy, low-fat versions of classic dishes and then let people on the streets decide which is better.

Glutton for Punishment
Premieres Wednesday, March 28th at 10:00 PM
Bob Blumer - aka The Surreal Gourmet - travels the world and faces daunting food & drink related challenges.

French Food at Home
Premieres Thursday, March 29th at 7:00 PM
Laura Calder brings her cookbook French Food at Home to life, presenting her dishes with panache and flair.

New Imports:

Giada's Weekend Getaways
Premieres Tuesday, March 27th at 10:00 PM
Giada De Laurentiis travels to a different city each week for a three-day, food-filled weekend.

Throwdown with Bobby Flay
Premieres Wednesday, March 28th at 10:30 PM
Bobby Flay surprises award-winning competitive cooks - champions of BBQ, baking, pizza and more - who think they are being profiled for the Food Network, and challenges them to a cook-off on their own turf.

Jamie's School Dinners
Premieres Thursday, March 29th at 10:00 PM
Jamie Oliver takes on the government in this renowned series that documents his battle to bring better food to the school lunchrooms of England. (Even if you don't like Oliver, it's worth watching for his take-no-shit sidekick Nora Sands.)