Female Chef Makes History at Eat! Vancouver

VANCOUVER — Four weeks later Eat! Vancouver staff has announced the winner of its Black Box competition. Nevada Cope has taken the coveted prize, beating out 16 male chefs, including last year’s winner Harmon Gill, to become the first-ever female winner of the Master Chef Competition.

Cope created her winning dish using quail, ground pork, chorizo, turnip and Windset Farms Gusto hot peppers from the final Black Box.

The top toque received a Ken Onion 11-piece Block set of chef’s knives, valued at $2,200, as well as a complete set of china, valued at $1,700, for her win.

Cope is a graduate from the Culinary Arts program at the Art Institute of Vancouver in 2006 and has worked in several Vancouver kitchens, including: Joe Fortes, Bridges, Zin and GM Place. She is currently a full-time cook at the Coast Coal Harbor Hotel and La Vallee at The Executive Hotel.

Eat! Vancouver is Canada’s largest food and cooking festival, with more than 38,000 visitors in 2010. The festival will return to the Vancouver Convention Centre, June 10-12, 2011. The popular Master Chef competition will also return, in addition to the new World Association of Chefs Societies-sponsored Continental Challenge Culinary Competition involving chefs from around the world.

Photo by Derevko Photography.