More than a year after filming, Farmington-area chef Justin Pioche finally watched himself win $10,000 and the title of “Chopped” champion on the national Food Network.
The episode, titled “Indigenous Inspirations,” aired Tuesday marking the first time the show featured Indigenous food as the main ingredient across an entire competition.
In an interview with the Tri-City Record on Wednesday, Pioche described the experience as surreal and filled with mixed emotions.
“I’m just super-proud of my competitors and my friends who competed with me. We still talk to this day and none of us have any bad blood against each other and we still promote each other, which is pretty awesome.”
Pioche competed against chefs Mariah Gladstone, Ray Naranjo and Jessica Walks First. The judges were Eric Adjepong, Pyet DeSpain and Sean Sherman, with Ted Allen serving as host. The final round came down to Pioche and Gladstone.
Going into the final moments, Pioche said he was not confident he had won.
“Mariah is a really good chef, and she’s an amazing teacher. She has so much knowledge in her head, and so she really made me nervous when it got down to the nitty-gritty,” he said. “When I seen her make that cake, I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m done.’”
His first-round dish featured sautéed whitefish with pawpaw salsa and sumac tea. In the second round, he prepared an Anaheim chile-rubbed bison with sweet corn grits and charred lima beans. For the final round, he created a pemmican bread pudding with candied sweet potatoes.
Pioche faced several challenges during the competition, including a time-costing finger cut and a plating decision he later regretted. He said he wished he had either fried the fish skin into a chip or left it off entirely.
In the final dessert round against Gladstone, Pioche’s pemmican bread pudding ran into equipment issues, but he adapted and still plated a successful dish.
Beyond the competition, Pioche emphasized representing Navajo culture on a national stage.
“It was very humbling and I was honored to share the experience among peers and to try to be that voice and also the example that you can do whatever you want to as long as you put your mind to it,” he said.
Before filming began, contestants shared a moment of unity.
“We still gotta be a big voice for our people and the youth going forward,” Pioche said. “And we all agreed and hugged each other, and that was really, really powerful.”
Since the episode aired, Pioche has received widespread support and celebrated with a watch party in Farmington.
The “Indigenous Inspirations” episode of “Chopped” is available to stream online.
Looking ahead, Pioche said the win could help expand his family-run business, Pioche Food Group, while continuing to share Indigenous food and stories.
He plans to use part of the prize money to support Pioche Food Group and share it with his sister, Tia Pioche, and their mother, Janice E. Brown, crediting their role in his success.
“I just want to give God the glory, and thank him for my family who’s always at my back, and remind Turtle Island that Native people are still here, we’re not going anywhere. I look forward to the next challenge that’s coming up,” Pioche said.
