No one who has ever tasted anything by Wyoming’s celebrity chef Petrina Peart would ever guess she has any self-confidence issues behind the smiling face that’s presenting her latest masterpiece.
After all, the Cheyenne-based chef was just one vote shy of beating celebrity chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay” show — no easy task — and she was tapped to serve as a U.S. culinary diplomat.
More recently, the chef, who has been fearless about promoting all-vegetarian menus in meat-hungry Wyoming at places like the Paramount Ballroom in Cheyenne, was tapped to serve as the executive chef for the Wyoming Governor’s Mansion.
Peart really is at the top of her game, but her brother, Hubert Johnson, who is involved in culinary endeavors in Las Vegas, sees an entirely different side of Chef Peart. He sees the side that’s a little too worried about the outcome every, single time.
That’s why he nominated his sister for Martha Stewart and chef Jose Andres’ new cooking competition series, “Yes, Chef!” — without telling her he was going to do it.
The show, which airs Monday nights starting at 8 p.m. MT on April 28 on NBC, pits 12 chefs against not just each other, but against themselves.
Each chef appearing on the show struggles with a fatal flaw, including Chef Peart.
Their ego is too big for the kitchen, or their stubbornness is turning into arrogance, or they are more intense than a 500-degree oven on a 103-degree summer day.
To win the “Yes, Chef!” competition and its $250,000 grand prize, the chefs will not only have to create spectacular food while under immense pressure, but they will have to show improvement on their personal fatal flaw, whatever it might be.
Cheyenne chef Petrina Peart will appear on the new NBC cooking show hosted by Martha Stewart called "Yes, Chef!" (Photo by Brendan Meadows, NBC) 
Martha Stewart and Jose Andres are the hosts of a new NBS cooking show called "Yes, Chef!" (Photo by Brendan Meadows, NBC) 
Cheyenne chef Petrina Peart, center, will appear on the new NBC cooking show hosted by Martha Stewart called "Yes, Chef!" (Photo by Pief Weyman, NBC)
Phone Call Out Of The Blue
Given the premise of “Yes, Chef!” Peart was mighty surprised when she got a call from the show’s team, inviting her to participate in the selection process.
“It was a good surprise,” Peart told Cowboy State Daily. “But it’s funny, because when I saw (my brother’s) video, I didn’t think it was very accurate.”
Until, that is, she was confronted with her over-perfectionist ways on the “Yes, Chef” show. Which, ultimately, that made her appreciate her brother all the more.
“Most people don’t know that I struggle with things like that,” Peart said. “They see my career progression and think that I’m just like the typical, always confident kind of person. That’s not me at all. I’m constantly second-guessing a lot of things. And for him to see that internal struggle, it made me feel seen.”
In Chef Peart’s case, it’s not ego, temper or stubbornness that’s holding her back in life and culinary adventures.
“I feel like certain career fields or career paths have a certain level of ego attached to them,” Peart said. “And I don’t have that. But I do overthink a lot, and that kind of leads into this like, perfectionism thing. You know, the imposter syndrome, if I don’t get it right every time.”
What Is Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter syndrome doesn’t have an official diagnosis in the manual of psychological disorders. But it’s still something that can be stifling to those who suffer from it.
The term was coined in the late 70s by a couple of psychologists, Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, who’d noticed a pattern of high-achieving women, who, despite their evident success, felt like frauds on the inside.
That created a lot of internal, secret anxiety for the women, who feared they would eventually not be able to live up to their own reputations. Abundant evidence to the contrary didn’t seem to quell those anxieties either. In fact, more often than not, it tended to ratchet up their intense, internal fears.
It’s a cycle Peart said she now recognizes is at play in herself.
“We’re like artists in that we take an idea and we manifest it into something real, something tangible, and something that I put on a plate to say, ‘This is what I’ve created. How do you feel about it?’” Peart said. “And if they don’t like it, well, that’s like, my heart.”
Those fears do come from a place of good intentions. Peart just wants to do an amazing dish that wows every, single time. But anxiety around achieving that ideal also means wasting precious brain space on second-guessing and overthinking.
That might not affect the overall outcome of what she’s serving up on any given occasion, but it still takes away from the overall enjoyment of creative process. And it can, sometimes, cause people to avoid opportunities for growth as too risky.
“It’s the pressure that I put on myself that’s the thing I need to work on most,” Peart said. “And so that’s one of the reasons I decided to go on the show.”
Meeting Martha Stewart And Chef Andres
Peart also liked the concept of a show where she’s actively working on an area that needs to improve, rather than just competing with yet another round of chefs to see who can make the best dish.
“I think it was Jose Andres in the preview who said, ‘They’re not just battling their contestants, they’re battling themselves.,’” Peart said. “And that’s very true a lot of the times in the kitchen that my best friend and my biggest enemy sometimes is myself.”
But another of the big reasons Peart was excited to be on the show was the chance to meet home-making guru Martha Stewart, who is legendary for her expertise in cooking, entertaining, and decorating, as well as celebrity chef Jose Andres, a renowned chef, who started World Central Kitchen, an NGO and nonprofit group that provides humanitarian food aid all over the world. Both are people she has admired from afar.
“Martha Stewart is like the reason I love table-scaping —making a beautiful dining table,” Peart said. “She’s the reason I love creating a beautiful centerpiece and all of that.”
Andres, meanwhile, is what Peart described as the “epitome of a beautiful human being.”
“His heart is so big,” Peart said. “Just the World Central Kitchen and helping out California and Haiti and in Palestine. He’s been all over the place and it’s just a beautiful passion project. I think he’s a culinary giant, so to be in their presence was just, I’m pretty sure you’ll see when they appear for the first time, we’re all just kind of star struck.”
For Peart, working alongside these two was like a dream come true.
“We all have these giants we put on pedestals and it’s like, OK, I know I’m successful when I reach that level,” Peart said. “To get to a place where you’re in the same room with such people, there’s no words for things like that, experiences like that.”
Harder Than ‘Beat Bobby Flay’
“Yes, Chef!” being a reality series, though, was a much different experience than her appearance on the “Beat Bobby Flay” show.
While she was familiar with everything in the “Yes, Chef” kitchen, there was one element that particularly surprised her.
“All the cameras,” Peart said. “That was probably the only thing that was really like a new experience for me.”
There were, of course, cameras on the “Beat Bobby Flay,” show. But there was only one other contestant at work. In this case, there were 11 other contestants, each with a camera crew team following their every move.
“Everyone’s on a 30-minute timeline,” Peart said. “And there’s like 25 cameras everywhere. I’ve always been kind of under the spotlight, being observed, working in an open kitchen with people walking by and watching you work.”
But this was next-level intimidating, with someone filming every single thing she did, mistakes and all, in a kitchen where 11 other people are scrambling for ingredients and ideas.
The fact that she was the only chef representing Wyoming was foremost in her mind, she added, which added a little bit more pressure to it all.
Peart saw another chef fall down during one episode and that put a little more fear into her as she was working.
“I was like, ‘Oh God, I hope they don’t catch me falling,’” Peart said.
What’s Ahead For Chef Peart
One of the big things on Peart’s calendar of upcoming events will be visiting her brother this summer in Vegas, to thank him for nominating her for the show.
Before that, though, she is planning a small watch party with friends to kick off the series, and she’s looking forward to seeing how things unfold.
“There are so many things that you miss when you’re recording, because you’re focused on your own experience,” Peart said
In the meantime, Peart is in the midst of planning a garden for the Governor’s Mansion, where she’ll grow lots of herbs and fresh produce for her creations.
“I really love that connection of growing and cooking and feeding people with (garden fresh food),” she said. “So, I’m really looking forward to that this spring, and working with the First Lady, who always has a garden and loves gardening. That’s going to be fun this spring.”
She will also be doing a little bit of travel in the next couple weeks. She was one of five chefs tapped for a restaurant takeover in a couple of weeks at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, which is located in Virginia.
“We’re doing a seven-course culinary experience,” Peart said. “It’ll be the weekend after the show premieres.”
Peart hopes people watching the show, “Yes, Chef!” will be able to relate to and learn from her personal struggles as the show unfolds, as well as apply what they learn to their own endeavors.
“There will be lots of unpredictable things that you just kind of have to tune in and then cheer everyone on — not just me from Wyoming, but everyone else, too.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
