A Balmoral native is in the race to become Carla Hall’s Favorite Chef.
The Favorite Chef competition is heating up, and Balmoral’s own Darwin Peters is at the front of the pack. The competition invites chefs across North America to compete for a $25,000 prize, a two-page Taste of Home Magazine advertorial, and the chance to cook with renowned chef and TV personality Carla Hall.
The annual competition is run by Colossal, an American-based charity-supporting business. It raises money for the James Beard Foundation, which provides resources and initiatives like mentorships, leadership programs, and advocacy for America’s food and beverage professionals. Over the years, the competition has raised more than $4.7 million for the foundation through paid votes and donations.
When Chef Peters heard about the competition, he thought he’d sign up for fun. A couple of weeks later, out of 61 chefs, Peters was second in his group and moving onto the Top 10, something he didn’t think would happen.
Peters has loved cooking since he was young. His first introduction to the kitchen was spending time with his grandma baking cookies. Helping his grandma roll cookie dough quickly turned into helping his mom make school lunches, and then he made them himself.
As he grew up, Peters became involved with anything related to food. For him, that meant baking a delicious chicken parmesan in 4H, taking home economics classes in high school, and eventually applying to and taking Red River College Polytech’s culinary arts program.
“There were some bumps along the way and you heard the dropout rate was 50 per cent, which ended up being true, but I had the drive and the passion to continue,” he said.
So, he persevered. He continued to cook at the Notre Dame campus, learning from chefs of all kinds and backgrounds, honing his knife skills, and doing his best to make no mistakes. His biggest challenge in college was grading. Peters had never been an A+ student, but in the culinary program, he set goals to ensure he wasn’t settling.
“Criticism is sometimes hard to take, and sometimes might not be constructive, but I hold myself accountable to always do better,” said the near 34-year-old.
He said in the culinary world, negativity is common, and it can be hard to be confident, so he tries to actively remind himself he’s gotten this far for a reason. After college, Peters moved to Ontario to finish his work placement, and he hasn’t looked back. He’s worked at a few places since the move in 2012, and after working as a sous chef for the last four years, he’s finally where he’s worked to be: an executive chef.
Peters works for Amica Senior Lifestyles, the largest retirement company in Canada. He started with the company as a sous chef, and after five months in that position, he was promoted to executive chef. As an executive chef, Peters oversees all the goings-on in the kitchen. That includes administrative work, hiring, firing, cooking, menu creation, ordering, and anything else that may need to be done.
“I like the cooking part most but being a chef is not just about the cooking,” he said. “It’s dealing with people and it’s the challenge of learning how to manage people. I’m getting better each day.”
Peters hopes to grow with Amica Senior Lifestyles, opening a new location and a brand-new kitchen with them, then staffing it, training that staff, and so on.
Last week, Peters surpassed the first-place chef in the Favorite Chef competition but was bumped down to second again later. He said knowing he can make first place has motivated him to dedicate time to promoting himself in the competition. For him, winning would mean more than supporting his growing family — it would mean the possibility of opening his own restaurant someday or starting a side gig. Money aside, the exposure a win would give him would be worth everything. Peters would love the opportunity to cook with and learn from Hall and to have a two-page spread in the popular magazine. That alone would support his career enormously, he said.
There are two titles to take in the Favorite Chef competition. The People’s Choice prize goes to the chef who places first in the voting. That winner gets $25,000, the chance to cook with Hall, the Taste of Home Magazine feature, and an exclusive professional photoshoot.
The other title is Carla’s Pick and will go to a quarterfinalist of Hall’s choosing. For that title, the quarterfinalists will submit a plating presentation photo of food they cooked, and she’ll choose her favourite. The winner will get a trip to New York City for themselves and a guest valued at $7,500.
Favorite Chef started on May 20, with the Top 20 being voted in on May 30. Ending June 6 was the Top 15 and ending June 13 was the Top 10. Now, Peters is in the Top 5 of the contest, and voting for that is open until June 20. Starting June 20, public voting opens for the group finals, and one winner from each group will be chosen, then advancing to the quarterfinals. Competitors who placed second in their groups will compete in a shortened round for the chance to advance to the quarterfinals as a wildcard.
The quarterfinals will start July 1, and voting will remain open until July 11. The top competitors in each group will advance to the semifinals. Semifinal voting will be open July 12 – 18, and one semifinalist from each group will advance to the finals, which will close on July 25.
The People’s Choice and Carla’s Pick winners will be announced on Aug. 2 this year.
Where Peters goes from here depends on votes. People get one free vote daily and can donate to the cause to vote more often. To make a vote by donation, the voter must be at least 18 years old. To vote for Peters to be the Favorite Chef, go to favchef.com/2024/darwin-peters.
You can also follow Peters’ journey on his Instagram account @chefdupandstuffed.
