Life after reality TV

Danielle Cardozo talked to us about what she learned and what she’s planning

After competing in a nationally televised cooking competition, Danielle Cardozo has some suggestions for others in that situation. — Marie Milner photo

With the fuss and frantic pace of the MasterChef Canada competition behind her, and with a few solid culinary mentoring contacts in place, Danielle Cardozo is taking time to evaluate her experiences from the past eight months and consider her future. We met with her recently for a summary and a look ahead.

What’s something that you learned from the MasterChef Canada experience?

Culinary-wise, I’ve been able to clarify what my style is. I learned that I’m really about locally sourced food. I want the food I make to reflect my local environment and my First Nations heritage.

I recently went to Tel Aviv to learn about molecular gastronomy, which is about as opposite as you can get from home cooking. Molecular gastronomy is about processing and changing the foods you start with. It was fun and interesting to learn, but it’s not my style—it’s not practical.

I’ve become more organized. I used to go to the grocery store and stock up on everything, and then every day I would decide what I wanted to cook. Now, I plan meals and shop once a week for the ingredients I need. It’s more efficient in terms of time and money.

I haven’t changed the way I cook for my kids, though. If you see me in the grocery store, I might have KD (Kraft Dinner) in my cart. My kids are pretty adventurous eaters—they like steamed mussels, for instance—but they’re still kids.

What have you learned in other areas?

Travelling around so much in the last eight months, spending so much time in cities, has really made me appreciate home. Coming back to the Kootenays … I just really want to be here. The support I have received from the community has made me really appreciate being here in Cranbrook.

We understand that you plan to do a monthly dinner event in Sparwood—will you be doing other events as well?

I’d eventually like to have a catering business, and for right now I’m working on getting a few event bookings every month. I just catered a reception at Denham Ford, for the grand opening of their new showroom, and it went really well.

Something that has come out of this MasterChef experience is that my siblings and I have a much stronger bond now. We’ve realized that we all love to cook and that we work well together in the kitchen, so we’ve decided to work together when I get a catering booking. I do the planning and the shopping, and they come in for the event and do their thing. My sister, Amy, owns Crumbs Cakery in the Elk Valley, and she makes gorgeous pastries and desserts, and my brother, Nate, has amazing knife skills, so he’s in charge of the prep work. They have high standards, too, and we turn out a high-quality product.

What advice would you give to someone who is preparing for a TV cooking competition?

Cook. Cook something new every day. Do research. Get competent with the basics: sauces, fish, meats, pastries, pasta. Know your seasonings. And know your story. Know who you are, know your cooking style. If you don’t know who you are in the kitchen, you won’t know where to start when you’re faced with unfamiliar ingredients, and you can’t pretend for long. These competitions are certainly about cooking skills, but you have to remember they’re also a television show—they can’t be boring, so you need to be prepared for some drama.