A chef with local roots got a taste of recognition through an online contest, and he’s savouring the impacts of the experience.
Darwin Peters, who is originally from Balmoral, recently competed in Carla Hall’s Favorite Chef competition.
Competitors post photos of their food and provide information about themselves on a profile page. Supporters can cast online votes for free once every 24 hours. Voters aged 18 and over can also purchase votes with a portion of the proceeds going to the James Beard Foundation, a non-profit that aims to create a more equitable and sustainable future for the restaurant industry.
The people’s choice winner receives $25,000, as well a chance to appear on the cover of Taste of Home magazine and a cooking experience with Hall, a renowned chef and TV personality. The people’s choice winner will likely be announced in early August.
Peters ranked third in his group in the quarterfinals, so he’s not proceeding to the semi-finals. He took a moment to reflect on the experience and its impacts.
“By constantly reminding people to vote every day, I got some exposure and I touched base with people I had lost touch with,” he said.
“It was all about promoting and sharing posts on Facebook to get more votes. It was hard to constantly remind people every day. I got some free votes and some donations here and there, which was nice to see. For those who supported me, I’m super grateful for that.”
Thanks to his online presence, someone reached out to him to inquire about his cooking, possibly interested in some private catering.
“It’s a little bit of exposure,” said Peters, who works in Mississauga as a chef at Amica Senior Lifestyles. “People are interested and they can see some of the food that I cooked.”
Although Peters is out of the people’s choice competition, he still has a chance to participate in a second stream of the competition. All quarterfinalists have the chance to participate in “Carla’s Pick,” which allows them to showcase a plating presentation photo. The winner will receive a trip for two to New York.
Peters submitted a photo of a dessert called “summer on the beach” featuring a de-constructed strawberry shortcake with vanilla Chantilly cream, Ontario local strawberries, biscoff sand, candied almondine, dehydrated preserved orange and citrus foam.
He’s keeping his fingers crossed that Hall will choose his mouth-watering dessert as the winning submission.
The annual Favorite Chef competition is run by Colossal, a for-profit professional fundraising business. According to the Favorite Chef website, the competition is operated as part of a fundraising campaign for DTCare, an American public charity organization. Donations raised from paid votes during this competition go directly to DTCare. DTCare will then grant the donations — minus competition fees (36.5%) and variable costs (including payment processing fees, operating and prize costs, etc., not to exceed 13.5%), which shall include a nominal percentage (1%) retained by DTCare — to the James Beard Foundation as the designated grantee.
