The Christopher Kimball Controversy That Changed America's Test Kitchen Forever

Christopher Kimball was the face of America's Test Kitchen for fifteen years, until suddenly one day he wasn't. A former publisher and marketer, Kimball founded "Cook's Illustrated" food magazine in 1993, a new version of a previous one he had started in 1980, and launched the "America's Test Kitchen" TV show in 2001. Powered by Kimball's own dedication to exploring problems piece by piece, "Cook's Illustrated" and "America's Test Kitchen" pioneered a testing and science-based approach to home cooking that revolutionized the industry and became wildly popular in the process. The company launched big names like "Food Lab" author J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Mark Bittman, but Kimball was always at the center of it all, running the company and acting as the face of the brands by hosting "America's Test Kitchen," all in his signature bow tie. Which is why it came as such a shock when he suddenly left the show and the company in 2015 and ended up embroiled in a bitter controversy with his former colleagues.

Like any battle the controversy has two sides, but it came down to what Kimball did after he left America's Test Kitchen, or in his telling, was forced out. One year later he launched a new venture called Milk Street, another food publication and cooking school, with some former coworkers from ATK. That sounds pretty normal, and Kimball has always contended it was, but America's Test Kitchen ended up suing its old founder only two weeks after the first magazine came out.

The initial announcement of Kimball's departure in 2015 was framed as a contract dispute. However Kimball felt he was being sidelined and pushed out by the company he founded when it hired a new executive who outranked him and who was more aligned with the financial goals of investors. He even told a colleague later in 2015 that he had been fired. The company's announcement of his departure was a terse nine-word statement saying his employment was ending, which was considered signs of an acrimonious split. There were already rumors Kimball was going to start a new business as he was leaving.

But the lawsuit still came as a shock. In it America's Test Kitchen alleged that Kimball ripped off the concept of the show for his new venture from his old company and stole resources to help launch the new publication. Examples that were alleged included Kimball taking contact lists of readers and using ATK resources to look for real estate for Milk Street. Things were further complicated by the fact Kimball still owned part of America's Test Kitchen. The lawsuit alleged that because of this, Kimball opening a competitor was betraying his fiduciary duties of doing what was best for the financial interests of the company. After 22 years as the face of the beloved food science brand it was a brutal way for his tenure to end.

While Kimball has been the force behind one of the most successful food publications in the country, critics had occasionally taken shots at his prickly demeanor, and old-school recipes that focused heavily on classic American comfort food and European cooking at the expense of international and "ethnic" cuisines. After Kimball left, or was kicked out, ATK immediately set to pivoting towards a younger cast with more digital savvy. Longtime fixtures Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster took over as hosts of the "America's Test Kitchen," TV show, but right after Kimball left, ATK launched a new show called "Cook's Science" with Dan Souza as the face, and later promoted people like recipe developed Lan Lam and food stylist Elle Simone Scott to be on screen talent. America's Test Kitchen now has a large digital presence, with a robust rotating cast of hosts.

As for the lawsuit against Kimball, it fizzled out into a settlement. In 2019, on the verge of going to trial, both parties settled, with the main issue being Kimball surrendering his remaining stake in America's Test Kitchen for an undisclosed payout. He never admitted any wrongdoing, admitted that both sides just wanted to avoid the exhaustion of an even longer battle. While both Milk Street and America's Test Kitchen survived and continue to grow it was a sad end for one of the most important and innovative relationships in food media.