How Pyet DeSpain Won Next Level Chef By Embracing Her Roots
Your Mama’s Kitchen
Higher Ground
4.6 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chef, cookbook author, and winner of Next Level Chef, Pyet DeSpain, shares how her Mexican and Native American roots shaped her extraordinary culinary career. Pyet talks about growing up on the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma, debunks misconceptions about Native culture and cuisine, and pulls back the curtain on what it’s really like behind the scenes of a cooking competition show. Plus, she shares her recipe for Blue Corn Strawberry Tamales with Coconut Horchata Sauce!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's not really this blend of like cultures. It's just my dad's side, my mom's side. And when I, you know, became a chef, I decided I want to represent myself. You're not going to choose. Yeah, I don't want to have to choose. I shouldn't have to choose. It's my own table. I built the table. Right. You should do whatever you want to choose. Yeah, I don't want to have to choose. I shouldn't have to choose. It's my own table. |
| 0:22.0 | I built the table. Right. You should do whatever you want to do at that table. Exactly. |
| 0:34.4 | Welcome back to your mama's kitchen. This is a place where we explore how we are shaped as adults by the kitchens that we grew up in as kids. Of course, the food that we ate, but so much other stuff. The laughter, the arguments, the homework at the kitchen table, the music on the radio. I'm Michelle Norris. And I'm kind of excited to introduce you to our |
| 0:55.7 | guest today. Piet de Spain is an award-winning chef, a private global chef, and the first ever |
| 1:04.3 | winner of Gordon Ramsey's groundbreaking cooking competition series called Next Level Chef. Kudos to her for that. She draws |
| 1:12.6 | inspiration from her Native American and Mexican heritage, creating dishes that honor and celebrate |
| 1:19.1 | the flavors and the stories that were passed down through generations. Very few chefs in the |
| 1:25.5 | world focus on indigenous cuisine and even fewer focus on the fusion between |
| 1:31.2 | indigenous Mexican cuisine. |
| 1:33.8 | And so Piet really is a trailblazer. |
| 1:36.8 | It's not an overstatement to say that she's almost one of a kind. |
| 1:39.8 | And I feel lucky to have her on the show with me today to talk about recipes, memories, |
| 1:45.6 | ingredients, traditions, and so much more. |
| 1:48.3 | Welcome to the program. |
| 1:49.9 | Thank you for having me. |
| 1:51.3 | I'm so honored to be here, Michelle. |
| 1:53.4 | Glad to have you with us. |
| 1:54.4 | Now, we should give you a shout out, not just for winning that competition, but also for your cookbook. |
| 1:59.5 | It's called Roted in Fire, |
| 2:01.8 | a celebration of Native American and Mexican cooking. It's coming out this fall. So if you're |
| 2:07.3 | listening to this, checkmark that. Pre-order, because pre-orders are always very important. |
| 2:13.3 | I had a chance to look at it in advanced copy, and it's beautiful. |
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