Julia Collin Davison's Life Was Never The Same After Joining America's Test Kitchen
Julia Collin Davison has had quite the rise to fame, from washing dishes and grocery shopping for "Cook's Illustrated" back in the '90s to becoming the co-host of "America's Test Kitchen" (ATK). She's been an original cast member since the show first aired in 1999, but it took Davison around seven seasons before she truly felt comfortable behind the camera.
Fans have always loved the cast's chemistry and were shocked when long-standing "ATK" host Christopher Kimball announced his departure back in 2017. There was a lot of uncertainty about whether the show would go on and, if it did, what it would look like. That's when Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster stepped up to become co-hosts, their friendship blossoming with this new opportunity. Working alongside her friend and the supportive crew has given Davison a bigger confidence boost to pursue all kinds of culinary adventures outside of "ATK."
How has working on "America's Test Kitchen" impacted the trajectory of Julia Collin Davison's career? Read on to learn about her fun, inspiring, and sometimes strange accomplishments.
Fans can still see Julia Collin Davison on Cook's Country as a co-host as well
After the massive success of "America's Test Kitchen," the crew decided to create "Cook's Country" in 2008. The show has all the same beloved stars of "ATK," except this series aims to educate viewers on the history behind classic recipes. After viewers learn about the origins of iconic American dishes, the crew teaches you how to make the perfected version.
As with "ATK," "Cook's Country" needed a new host once Christopher Kimball left in 2017, so Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster took over this show, too. Since then, the two have explored the stories behind all kinds of dishes, such as Mississippi mud pie, flank steak in adobo from Texas, and prosciutto bread from New York.
If you're sad about the latest season of "America's Test Kitchen" coming to an end, you'll have lots of fun watching Davison, Lancaster, and other "ATK" cast members on "Cook's Country" while you wait for Season 26. So far, "Cook's Country" has 17 seasons, and more are on the way.
She started her own cooking show called Julia at Home in 2021
Being a part of "America's Test Kitchen" for more than two decades is a huge honor, but now Julia Collin Davison is popular enough to branch out on her own with a show called "Julia at Home." It first launched on Pluto TV in 2021, and currently has six seasons available on multiple platforms, including Pluto TV, Prime Video, Philo, Apple TV, and YouTube. As the name implies, viewers get a more intimate experience with Julia as she walks home cooks through all kinds of dishes that she makes in her own kitchen.
With episodes like "Appliances to the Rescue," "Football Food," and "Vegetarian for Mom," it's clear that Davison wants to make cooking accessible and fun for everyone. Fans of "America's Test Kitchen" will certainly feel nostalgic watching "Julia at Home," since many of her episodes are throwbacks to her favorite "ATK" recipes.
She published a cookbook with Bridget Lancaster in 2017 called Cooking at Home With Bridget & Julia
If you can't get enough of Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster's friendship on "America's Test Kitchen" and "Cook's Country," you'll have to check out their cookbook called "Cooking at Home With Bridget & Julia: The TV Hosts of America's Test Kitchen Share Their Favorite Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends." The pair published it in 2017, and readers can gain access to 150 recipes, all carefully selected by them.
In addition to these mouthwatering recipes, Davison and Lancaster open up about their real-life friendship, what they cook at home, their families, and more. They explore how their childhoods, travel experiences, and life events, such as becoming mothers, have shaped the way they approach and appreciate food.
For example, one of Davison's go-to recipes for feeding her family on a busy night is spaghetti with turkey-pesto meatballs. She also writes about her time in Italy as a teenager and how a basic but high-quality tomato sauce can be the showstopper of any dish. You can taste the magic yourself if you make the accompanying recipe for skillet campanelle with fresh tomato sauce.
Julia Collin Davison is a judge on America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation
Who doesn't love a good cooking competition show? "Chopped," "Cutthroat Kitchen," and "Guy's Grocery Games" are just a few of the countless series that prove Americans will keep tuning in season after season to watch more kitchen antics. This is why it makes sense that "America's Test Kitchen" has also decided to branch out into the genre.
In 2022, the first season of "America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation" aired on Amazon Freevee with Julia Collin Davison as a judge (you can now enjoy the series on Prime Video as well). The premise of the show is to invite 11 talented home cooks to compete for a chance to join the "America's Test Kitchen" team, publish a cookbook, and earn $100,000.
Viewers can watch competitors tackle an array of stressful challenges, such as turning leftovers into a gourmet dish in 45 minutes, repurposing a bad dish, and creating a dish with mystery ingredients. Although it would be entertaining to see Julia Collin Davison compete, you'll still get to hear her culinary insights as she judges each dish.
She helps other chefs publish cookbooks as America's Test Kitchen's executive editor
As if Julia Collin Davison didn't seem busy enough, she also serves as an executive cookbook editor for "America's Test Kitchen." In this role, she works with dozens of chefs who want to publish cookbooks. She's done a great job thus far because several of these cookbooks have hit "The New York Times" Best Seller List. With her attention to detail, fans of "America's Test Kitchen" can feel great about buying any cookbooks that she helped publish.
Julia Collin Davison has also accompanied the published chefs on their book tours, which shows that she's passionate about uplifting those who are new to the culinary industry. In 2023, she joined Kevin Pang, author of "A Very Chinese Cookbook," in Boston to talk about the recipes, build hype, and sign fans' copies. The tickets to the event were free as well, further evidence that Davison is happy to donate her time to help a colleague and interact with her fans.
In 2018, Julia Collin Davison received the Augie Award from the Culinary Institute of America
Julia Collin Davison has a fascinating background, and many fans don't know that she earned two bachelor's degrees in psychology and philosophy at the State University of New York. She never got the chance to use them professionally, though, because she discovered her passion for food at the same time.
During her studies, she tried earning some extra money by working weekends at a gourmet food market. Everyone there liked her so much that she was quickly able to get promoted. So, she figured it was worth taking a chance to apply to the Culinary Institute of America to hone her skills further. In 1996, she earned her associate degree in Culinary Arts. After 22 years of hard work in the food industry, Julia Collin Davison returned to her school to receive the 2018 Augie Award. She's in good company because other noteworthy Augie Award recipients include Martha Stewart and Jacques Pépin.
Davison continues to be involved with the Culinary Institute of America. In 2024, she visited to talk with prospective students. In a silly and touching Instagram post, she mused about missing her life as a student and how much the school has changed over the years, except for Chef Coppedge, who is still flexible enough to do a full split. While her student days are over, maybe a teaching position could be in her future since she loves the atmosphere of culinary school.
She has appeared as a guest on many news and talk shows, including Good Morning America
With so much fanfare on "America's Test Kitchen," it's no wonder that lots of other television shows want Julia Collin Davison on as a guest. Not only is Davison intelligent and kind, but her years of experience have also taught her how to light up any television set. Some shows she's appeared on so far include "Good Morning America," "Live with Kelly & Ryan," "The Today Show," "Home & Family," and "The Tamron Hall Show."
Many of these appearances have been to promote "America's Test Kitchen" cookbooks. When she was a guest on "Live with Kelly & Ryan," she discussed "The Complete Salad Cookbook" and did a demonstration on how to level up your salads. With her usual methodical approach, she taught viewers to think about the architecture of a salad with foundations, structures, embellishments, and facades.
In her salad, she used bib lettuce, sunflower microgreens, and parsley as the foundation and chickpeas, quinoa, and chicken as the structure. For the embellishments, she used feta, seeds, and strawberries, and the facade was an extra-virgin olive oil and vinegar dressing. She also urged viewers to get creative with their toppings, such as adding Parmesan crisps, fried shallots, candied bacon, and even shaved chocolate. With her approach, salads don't have to be boring or leave you feeling hungry an hour later.
Fans might be able to see a cooking demo with her
Julia Collin Davison is always up for some personal time with her fans at live events. From celebrating 25 years of "America's Test Kitchen" to promoting new "ATK" cookbooks, fans have had all kinds of cool opportunities to see the star live. Bridget Lancaster also comes to many of these events, so fans can have a blast witnessing their banter.
These events tend to include conversation, cooking skills demonstrations, advice for menu inspiration, Q&As, and even meet-and-greets. To thank their fans, the hosts have organized events where they give free signed cookbooks to the first 500 ticket buyers.
Although traveling can be exhausting even for the most enthusiastic globetrotters, Davison takes everything that comes with her job in stride. When talking about her hard work in an interview with KLCS, she said, "Are you kidding? This is the best job ever. I'd be dumb to complain for even a minute about it."
Julia Collin Davison gives impromptu lectures at grocery stores
Have you ever pretended to give a lecture while you were in the shower or doing a chore to entertain yourself? Julia Collin Davison is ready to enter lecture mode every time she walks into a grocery store. When fans ask a seemingly simple question about what kind of apple they should choose to bake a pie, she can't help but go on a full tangent.
Since the concept of "America's Test Kitchen" involves repeating recipes dozens or even hundreds of times to get perfect results, Davison must have a million reasons why one type of apple has an edge over the others. She shared in an interview with "Boston Magazine" that her lectures are so captivating that large groups of shoppers have formed around her by the time she's finished. Her patience and enthusiasm, even after all these years, show that she's truly in love with food and educating home cooks.
She's been invited to cook and emcee for fundraisers
In addition to being generous with her fans and colleagues who need help getting a foot in the door, Julia Collin Davison also enjoys doing charity work. WCNY hosts an annual Taste of Fame fundraiser to continue providing free entertainment and education to New York communities through public television. Since Davison grew up in New York and caught her big break on public television, the cause is close to her heart.
In 2019, Davison was invited to plan and cook a four-course meal with ingredients from local farms. Her menu, which took over two months to perfect in the kitchen, included fennel and apple chopped romaine salad and rustic potato-leek soup as starters. For the entree, guests could choose between chicken fricassee with quick-cooked local tough greens, grill-roasted beef short ribs, and campanelle pasta with arugula, local goat cheese, and sun-dried tomato pesto. No meal would be complete without dessert, and what's more New York than a deep-dish apple pie? Davison elevated her pie with crystallized ginger to achieve the optimal treat.
In 2022, Julia Collin Davison joined WCNY's Taste of Fame fundraiser again as an emcee, while Chef Pati Jinich handled the menu. This job seems less difficult than cooking at first glance, but keeping hundreds of hungry guests entertained is no easy feat either. With her talent for describing food and the stories behind each dish, she undoubtedly did an excellent job emceeing.
She attended the 2019 Daytime Emmy Awards
Did you know that "America's Test Kitchen" and "Cook's Country" have been nominated 13 times for the Daytime Emmy Awards over the years, and "ATK" has won twice? While Julia Collin Davison has been a part of these two programs since day one, nominations in 2017 and onward have been an even greater honor since she and Bridget Lancaster became co-hosts.
"ATK" was nominated for the Outstanding Directing for a Multiple Camera Lifestyle/Culinary or Educational and Informational Program award in 2019, and that's when the team finally decided to attend the event. The dynamic co-hosts and other "ATK" fan favorites, Jack Bishop and Adam Ried, walked the red carpet together.
Although the crew didn't receive an award, they still had a nice time. Julia Collin Davison posted some fun photos on her social media from the event, where she posed with Jacques Pépin and Rachael Ray. With more seasons of both shows on the horizon, fans may see the team take home some wins in the future.
Julia Collin Davison loves laughing with fans and educating them in her comment section
Since Julia Collin Davison is passionate about educating others about food on "America's Test Kitchen," it should come as no surprise that she's chatty with her fans in the comment section of her social media accounts. In February 2025, Davison shared a photo of a container of chicken soup with a cooling paddle half-submerged. One fan who wasn't sure what the gadget was cheekily accused Davison of putting a whole bottle of vodka into her soup. Julia responded with a laugh and said she loved the idea, and informed her audience that home cooks can buy cooling paddles if they're too impatient to wait for their soup to cool down.
Davison also shared a photo in 2020 of a bottle of wine with an interesting label: Mollydooker The Scooter Merlot 2015. Everyone wanted a follow-up after she drank it, and she reported that it tasted as good as it looked and went down smoothly with or without food. Additionally, she occasionally posts requests for fan questions that she'll answer. In 2019, someone asked her if she knew of any shortcuts when making baklava. Davison responded that this treat has to be a labor of love, but jamming out to some music can help you get into the zone.
She's video chatted with an astronaut in space
Lots of people have been interested in space food ever since snacks like Astronaut Ice Cream became popular. Although freeze-dried foods are a fun novelty, astronauts don't actually eat that way in space anymore. Gone are the days of bland, dry mystery meals that you need to hydrate and suck out of a tube.
Modern astronauts get to enjoy interesting foods, though, which has to make their journeys much more tolerable. In a 2021 Instagram post, Julia Collin Davison shared that she got to video chat with NASA astronaut Megan McArthur and talk about food on the International Space Station. McArthur showed Davison the lab where the astronauts were growing fresh cress.
Being stuck in space for months may seem like a lonely or daunting experience, but McArthur told Davison that the astronauts have fun by sharing a meal once a week. Being able to sample foods from different countries must be a highlight, and McArthur raved about the Russian dishes in particular. In a sweet side note, Julia Collin Davison told fans that Megan McArthur also did a flying somersault for Davison's daughter, Marta, who was 13 at the time.
She made an unusual television appearance as a witness to a SWAT standoff in 2024
Since Julia Collin Davison has been juggling several shows over the years, fans are used to seeing her on television. However, in 2024, fans were shocked when they spotted Davison in an unusual place: a news report about a SWAT standoff. Instead of whipping up a recipe in the test kitchen, Davison was filmed on the street in Atlanta as a witness to a tense shooting.
Aside from one cop getting injured, everyone walked away from the scene safely. That's why she felt comfortable enough making light of the scary situation on social media. In an Instagram post, Davison wrote that she's been laughing at fans' comments in the "America's Test Kitchen" subreddit once they spotted her on the news report.
Her favorite comment was from Foxeagon on Reddit, who captioned the event as "'Julia at Home' vs. 'Julia Not at Home,'" which pokes fun at her cooking show's title. An Instagram user named bigbrain61 shared that his favorite caption from Reddit was, "We here at 'America's Test Kitchen' reviewed 47 different SWAT team responses."