{"id":2417795,"date":"2026-05-15T09:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2417795"},"modified":"2026-05-15T09:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:30:17","slug":"chopped-crowns-navajo-chef-justin-pioche-as-indigenous-champion-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/chopped-crowns-navajo-chef-justin-pioche-as-indigenous-champion-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Chopped\u2019 crowns Navajo Chef Justin Pioche as Indigenous champion | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cheers of \u201cY\u00e9\u00e9go, Justin! Y\u00e9\u00e9go!\u201d erupted and the Navajo Nation flag waved at a hometown watch party as Navajo Chef Justin Pioche hustled to beat the timer on the Food Network\u2019s first-ever Indigenous-themed \u201cChopped\u201d competition, \u201cIndigenous Inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time it was all over, Pioche had claimed the crown as the \u201cChopped\u201d champion after a friendly but fierce competition with three other Indigenous chefs \u2013 Mariah Gladstone, Blackfeet and Cherokee; Ray Naranjo, Santa Clara Pueblo; and Jessica Walks First, Menominee.<\/p>\n
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For the first time ever, all four chefs competing on the Food Network\u2019s \u201cChopped\u201d program were Indigenous. They are, from left, Justin Pioche, Navajo; Mariah Gladstone, Blackfeet\/Cherokee; Ray Naranjo, Santa Clara Pueblo; and Jessica Walks First, Menominee. Pioche was ultimately named \u201cChopped\u201d champion on the episode, which aired April 21, 2026.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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\u201cIt was all about harmony, and we had the same agenda: promoting Native foods, Native business and all the above,\u201d Pioche told\u00a0ICT<\/em>\u00a0as the episode aired for the first time on April 21, 2026.<\/p>\n
More than 100 people turned out in Farmington, New Mexico, for the party, which featured hand fans, stickers, gold necklaces, party horns and other hand-outs with Pioche\u2019s image. Every big screen in the restaurant and on the patio played \u201cChopped.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The judges on the \u201cIndigenous Inspiration\u201d episode of the Food Network\u2019s \u201cChopped\u201d show are, from left, Chef Eric Adjepong, of Ghanian descent; Prairie Band Potawatomi Chef Pyet DeSpain; and \u201cSioux Chef\u201d Sean Sherman. The episode \u2013 the first to focus on Indigenous chefs and foods \u2013 aired April 21, 2026.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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The entire restaurant erupted into applause, screams and woos after the Food Network announced the \u201cChopped\u201d champion was the Navajo Nation\u2019s very own. The room shook with excitement and joy. Hands and phones flew up to capture the moment.<\/p>\n
Pioche smiled and walked around the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant high-fiving and hugging family, friends, community members, and fellow \u201cChopped\u201d lovers, while his sister and sous chef, Tia Pioche, captured her brother and the restaurant\u2019s energy on her phone for social media.<\/p>\n
Like all viewers, it was Pioche\u2019s first time watching the pre-taped episode. Pioche runs the family catering and private dining business, Pioche Food Group, from Fruitland, New Mexico, with his sister and mom, Janice Pioche.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty fun,\u201d he said after his win was announced. \u201cI really enjoyed seeing everyone else\u2019s reaction. It was really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cIndigenous Inspiration\u201d episode included the four Native competitors and two prominent Native American chefs among the three-judge panel of experts, with \u201cSioux Chef\u201d Sean Sherman and Prairie Band Potawatomi Chef Pyet DeSpain joining Chef Eric Adjepong, who is Ghanian, at the judges\u2019 table.<\/p>\n
Mystery baskets revealed<\/strong><\/p>\n
The three-round competition featured a host of Indigenous foods in \u201cmystery\u201d baskets to be used for appetizers, entrees and desserts. The baskets included familiar Indigenous ingredients such as bison, whitefish, pemmican, sumac berries, pawpaw pulp, as well as some wild cards, such as sweet corn ice cream bars shaped like ears of corn.<\/p>\n
The celebrity chefs were quick to note the special nature of the episode.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight isn\u2019t just about competition \u2014 it\u2019s about visibility,\u201d said Chef Pyet, as she is known, on social media. \u201cTo see Indigenous chefs, ingredients, and foodways highlighted on a platform like Food Network means something deeper. It\u2019s a step toward honoring the original people of this land and recognizing the richness and diversity of the cuisines that shape America.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201cGrateful for every chef who showed up, every story shared, and every person behind the scenes who helped bring this to life. May this be one of many.\u201d<\/p>\n
Host Ted Allen acknowledged the significance at the beginning of the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor this special competition, we are honored to have four chefs whose culinary points of view are so deeply aligned with their Indigenous communities and cultures,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are very excited to be inspired by what you create on the plate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Round one: Appetizers<\/strong><\/p>\n
The three-course competition started with appetizers, with the mystery basket containing whitefish, sumac, pawpaw pulp and small fry breads called\u00a0kahsherohni<\/em>.<\/p>\n
The chefs got to work, whipping up on the spot dishes using techniques and adapted menus from their regions. Pioche made sauteed whitefish with pawpaw salsa and even went an extra step \u2014 which may have contributed to his win \u2014 saying, \u201cI have some sumac boiling right now, so I\u2019ll make a little tea for you guys. A little treat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sherman took notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, yeah,\u201d he said. \u201cSeems like Justin\u2019s clearly showing a lot of expertise behind that ingredient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pioche also provided some important Indigenous health information as he continued, drawing attention to the avoidance of processed sugars and flour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to finish the tea with a little bit of agave, because it\u2019s lower on the glycemic index,\u201d he said on the program. \u201cEuropean ingredients that were introduced to us in the Americas, like dairy, wheat flour and cane sugar just don\u2019t sit well. [Sumac tea] is something that\u2019s healing for my people. Whenever we have an upset stomach, that\u2019s what we drink.<\/p>\n
Gladstone had an issue with the\u00a0kahsherohni<\/em>, noting its roots in colonizations.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrybread comes from a time when we were dependent on government ration boxes,\u201d she said. \u201cWe created frybread with those things so we didn\u2019t have to face starvation. But frybread isn\u2019t exactly super healthy. I just don\u2019t incorporate it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
She used the bread, however, to form an open-faced sandwich with sumac, whitefish, pawpaw sauce with raspberries and quick-pickled onions.<\/p>\n
The two chefs from arid New Mexico, Naranjo and Pioche, wrestled a bit with the whitefish, which is not something they generally cook with.<\/p>\n
Naranjo made a sumac-dusted, white fish tostada with a pawpaw aioli, saying, \u201cThe story that I like with my food is that when you eat food from the Southwest and Mexican cultures, it\u2019s also Indigenous and often overlooked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sherman chimed in, saying, \u201cI really love that you\u2019re utilizing some of the Mexican styling here because Mexican food is more Indigenous than it is European.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walks First made a pan-seared sumac and garlic white fish with pawpaw maple glaze, but was chopped from the first round, leaving the stage in tears but proud to have been there.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, being right here, today, all of us, we have families that look up to us, communities that look up to us,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big step for every one of us, and for my grandchildren and child to see that it is okay to chase their dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Round Two: Bring on the bison<\/strong><\/p>\n
The chefs got creative with the basket of ingredients for the main course, which included bison steaks, anaheim chiles, lima beans and that oddball corn ice cream.<\/p>\n
Gladstone made bison steak strips on top of ice-cream fritters, with a creamy chile sauce. Pioche made a chile rub for the ribeyes, with charred lima beans and sweet corn grits.<\/p>\n
Chef Naranjo was chopped because his sweet corn ice cream got lost in a bean\/corn mush he made as a side dish to the bison.<\/p>\n
He took it in stride.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see that as a loss at all,\u201d he said. \u201cI see that as an important way to show what we\u2019re all about. So, hey, it\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Round Three: A sweet finish<\/strong><\/p>\n
Chefs Pioche and Gladstone squared off the final round by making a dessert with the basket of pemmican, Saskatoon berries, sweet potatoes, and stone-milled whole wheat flour. The judges noted the inclusion of flour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be interesting, because \u2026 both of these chefs don\u2019t typically use wheat flour; it is not indigenous to the Americas,\u201d Chef Pyet said. \u201cBut this particular wheat flour is coming from Ramona Farms,\u00a0 an heirloom brand of wheat that a particular tribe has been saving and growing. So it\u2019s got a lot of cultural meaning to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pioche made a bread pudding with candied pemmican and cognac cream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pemmican in Lakota\u00a0 is a dehydrated bison, a big part of our food sources,\u201d he said. \u201cWe would pound that out with a little bit of berries and fat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gladstone made a sweet potato muffin with a pemmican and berry sauce, with maple candy walnuts. She adapted a recipe she has included in her cookbook for children.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe call them saba berries back on Blackfeet Reservation, and the meat and the berries, we make soup out of it. It\u2019s ceremony food for us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201dI feel like this is a dish to show people that Native foods, like Native people, are not living in the past,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re here. We\u2019re doing something amazing every day in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pioche\u2019s pemmican bread pudding caught the judge\u2019s attention, after a misfiring spray bottle became an artful presentation on the plates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love whimsicalness. For me this was like a celebration of textures,\u201d DeSpain said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many different little crunchy bits, but yet softness from the bread pudding. I love the way it\u2019s cooked. It still has a sponginess to it,\u201c noted Sherman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the knife skills as well, man, on the sweet potato. Perfect uniform cubes, they\u2019re all candied, perfectly,\u201d added Adjepong.<\/p>\n
In the end Gladstone was chopped because of the appetizer round, with judges saying the frybread was too thick and overwhelming. That left Pioche as the \u201cChopped\u201d champion, and he humbly grinned as it was announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels really good,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel really ecstatic and I can\u2019t believe that I really pulled through.<\/p>\n
I had some really tough competition.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He told Allen his family should share the credit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would mean a lot to me because my family has always been behind me,\u201d he said. \u201cMy sister is my sous chef and co-owner. My mom is our manager. They deserve as much bragging rights as I do because they\u2019re the ones who live in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018So proud of my boy\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n
Pioche\u2019s mother and sister watched proudly from the crowd at the watch party in Farmington. His mother said she was grateful to the fans and community members who came out to support her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mind is ready to explode. So happy. So proud of my boy,\u201d she said while smiling and fighting through happy tears. \u201cIt\u2019s been so exciting, just waiting\u00a0 \u2026 Finally Tuesday, April 21, came. I\u2019m so ecstatic \u2026 My mind and my heart are overflowing.\u201d<\/p>\n
His sister, Tia, was just as proud.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe excitement of the whole restaurant, it really brought tears to my eyes because he\u2019s such a special person,\u201d Tia Pioche said. \u201cNobody else deserves it but him. It\u2019s why I\u2019m so proud and choked up a little bit. The adrenaline is still in me. We\u2019re so happy and proud of him and being able to share this with everybody was so cool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justin said he\u2019ll likely invest the $10,000 prize money into Pioche Food Group since they are busy and are getting busier. They\u2019ll need new equipment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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