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Now that he’s participating on the competitive cooking show, which returns for its 11th season on Oct. 14, he’s still picking his top two. So where does the highly regarded Indigenous author and chef put himself in the rankings?
“I wouldn’t pick me,” he jokes. “Okay, actually I would pick me. But I’ll tell you, anybody who thinks that they can do this style of show, you’ve got to be at the top of your game. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, and it was certainly nothing like I thought it would be. I think this show is incredible.”
Chartrand, the only Western Canadian chosen for this season, is in tough against nine other chefs from across the country. Tofino’s Lisa Ahier, Salt Spring Island’s Haan Palcu-Chang, and Vancouver’s Chanthy Yen represent the West Coast, while Halifax chef Moira Murray is the lone East Coast competitor. Ontario has three in the running, with Toronto’s Christina Khan, Etobicoke’s Alexander Fields, and Algonquin Highlands’ Miriam Echeverria, while Montreal boasts Rémi Lemieux and Ruby Gatt.
Guest judges? This season has quite a number of them, including Olympic champ Sarah Nurse, Top Chef host Kristen Kish, season 10 winner Tre Anderson, and Andrea Carlson, owner of the Michelin-starred restaurant Burdock & Co in Vancouver.
A competition has to have judges, and Top Chef Canada has four. Fermentation superstar and author David Zilber, restaurateur Janet Zuccarini, McEwan Group owner Mark McEwan, and blogger Mijune Pak are the stern adjudicators for this season, along with series host Eden Grinshpan. They’ll be laying down the ground rules, coming up with the time-crunch cooking scenarios, and tasting the final products. It’s a showcase of talent that many Canadian chefs simultaneously desire and fear to take part in.
“You do have your sleepless nights,” Chartrand acknowledges. “You’re always wondering if you’re making the right choice? Is my plan going the way I want it to go? You just don’t necessarily know if everything is going to work all the way that you planned. You can’t train for it. You can’t practise for it. Shows like Iron Chef, I was able to practise, but how do you practise mentally, and how do you practise physically? It really is something else.”
Chartrand will be giving it his all this season, but television competitions are only one small part of his life. He’s been all over the world lately, from Chicago to the COP27 Conference in Egypt, New York City to North Carolina, preaching the gospel of Indigenous cuisine. When he’s at home he’s been mentoring the owners of Love Molly, a food truck that services Edmonton and St. Albert with a menu that namechecks music, movies, authors and books. He highly recommends the Kill Bill sandwich.
For the moment, however, he’s concentrating on winning a cooking show, even if he self-deprecatingly hasn’t included himself in his final two.
“I just feel like this is going to be the most entertaining season,” he says. “You’re going to be on the edge of your seat. It’s got some emotion in there, and a lot of laughs. It’s going to be pretty outrageous, with lots of twists and turns to look forward to. You’re going to love it.”
Watch the season premiere of Top Chef Canada on Oct. 14 on Food Network Canada.