Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
Native chefs will open mystery baskets to create culinary masterpieces on a special episode, “Indigenous Inspiration,” on the Food Network’s popular “Chopped.”
The four chefs —Mariah Gladstone, Blackfeet/Cherokee; Ray Naranjo, Santa Clara Pueblo; Justin Pioche, Navajo; and Jessica Walks First, Menominee — will compete before a panel of expert judges to produce a three-course meal based on Indigenous foods.
One chef will eventually be named the “Chopped” champion with a cash prize of $10,000. The episode will first air Tuesday, April 21, at 9 p.m. Eastern time and will be available for streaming on Discovery+ shortly after it airs.
Each of the chefs places a special emphasis on Indigenous foods through their work.
“It is my vision and mission to bring Indigenous cuisine to the forefront of Chicago’s culinary scene,” Walks First, who owns and operates Ketapanen Kitchen, a pop-up kitchen and catering company, says on her website. “My menu will offer traditional Indigenous dishes, modern Indigenous dishes, and familiar dishes featuring Indigenous ingredients.”
Walks First is hosting a Chopped Watch Party for the “Indigenous Inspiration” episode at the American Indian Center Chicago starting at 7:30 p.m. on April 21.
Pioche, a James Beard Award finalist who focuses on Navajo foods through his Pioche Food Group catering and private dining company, is also hosting a watch party starting at 6 p.m. local time at Buffalo Wild Wings in Farmington, New Mexico.
Ray Naranjo, who graduated from Scottsdale Culinary Institute Le Cordon Bleu in 2003, is executive chef for the Pueblo Harvest restaurant at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Santa Fe.
Gladstone produces an online cooking show, ”Indigikitchen.” She says foods native to the Americas are healthier options for everyone.
“It’s no secret that healthy eating generally involves avoiding processed foods and preservatives,” Gladstone says on her website. “Indigenous foods like wild game, berries, corn, squash, and wild rice are far easier for the digestive system to process than wheat flour, dairy, and sugar.
“In the case of Natives,” she said, “there is the added benefit of cultural revitalization; pre-contact foods, especially those harvested locally, are a testament to the resilience of Native lifestyles and a delicious way of resisting colonization.”
What’s in the basket?
The chefs will compete on “Chopped” in three rounds, by making an appetizer, main course and dessert. One chef is eliminated in each round, with the remaining chef the “Chopped” champion.
Hosted by Ted Allen, Chopped is a cooking competition show on the Food Network that is focused on skill, speed and imagination.
The challenge is they only have seconds to pull the often-bizarre mix of ingredients out of the basket and plan the meal, and about 30 minutes to cook as the judges make comments and the clock ticks down. Course by course is tasted by the judges.
Each contestant will showcase their skills centered around Indigenous ingredients, a first-of-its-kind experience for the show. In the first round, the chefs will find baskets filled with ingredients that are found in Native communities, such as sumac and whitefish.
What will they have to cook? Venison? Bison? Blue corn? Tune in to find out.
As the chefs create, viewers will see a blend of modern techniques with traditional flavors, to showcase the variety of Indigenous culinary practices.
Here are the competing chefs.
Mariah Gladstone
Blackfeet/Cherokee
Mariah Gladstone, who grew up in northwestern Montana, produces “Indigikitchen” with a focus on “reindigenizing” American diets — a mashup of the words Indigenous, digital, and kitchen.
“Indigikitchen” gives viewers tools to find and prepare foods in their own communities, as it strengthens ties to cultures and reminds viewers of the value of identity while fueling physical bodies.
Gladstone has been named a “Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow” through the First Nations Development Institute. She has also been named a “Culture of Health Leader” from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and an MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellow. She serves on the board of the FAST (Food Access and Sustainability Team) Blackfeet.
Ray Naranjo
Santa Clara Pueblo
As executive chef of the Pueblo Harvest restaurant at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Santa Fe, Ray Naranjo devises menus to celebrate ancestral Pueblo ways, while also sourcing globally inspired contemporary cuisine.
Pueblo Harvest is a full-service restaurant that is considered a culinary extension of the museum, continuing the Pueblo story through the Indigenous and Southwest ingredients.
Naranjo has a culinary degree and more than 25 years experience in the food industry working for hotel and casino resorts in the Southwest. He has won several awards for his modern New Mexican cuisine, with a focus on chile. He has cooked for tribal communities and celebrities.
Justin Pioche
Navajo
The seeds of Justin Pioche’s culinary career started with fry bread and fresh peas prepared by his grandmother, according to his website.
That uncomplicated dish inspired him to pursue a culinary degree from the Arizona Culinary Institute, then work years under the most highly regarded chefs in Arizona.
Pioche, Navajo, now operates Pioche Food Group, which specializes in catering and private dining with a focus on Navajo foods. His sister and his mother join him in forming the Pioche Food Group.
The name “Pioche” is French and translates to pickaxe. One of the family grandmothers was captured by French settlers, and her children were christened with the Pioche name. The shirts worn by the family chefs feature a cross, a pickaxe and a chef’s knife.
In 2023, Pioche was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef – Southwest.”
Jessica Walks First
Menominee
Credit: Photo courtesy of Food Network
Jessica Walks First, Menominee, owns and operates Ketapanen Kitchen, described as “Chicago’s first Native American pop-up kitchen and catering company.”
She was classically trained at Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts. Her husband, Tony Garcia, and her teacher/mentor, Chef John Abels, are partners in Ketapanen Kitchen.
She was born on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin and raised in Chicago, where she still lives.
“Raised in a communal setting, I learned to command a kitchen at a young age,” she says on her website. “As a young girl, at any gathering, I would often run to the kitchen to help out.”
She got her love of cooking from her mother, Linda.
“I was taught that food is the centerpiece of life: whether you are gathered around the supper table at night, when you gather as a family or as a community, from celebrations to ceremonies, even in times of loss, there is food,” she said. “Food brings people together. So when I cook, I do so with love.
“Ketapanen is an expression of Love in the Menominee language. So it seemed fitting to use it as the name of my kitchen.”