Attention, foodies! Top Chef; Just Desserts winner Yigit Pura is coming to Orlando. He will be the guest of honor at COOK 2011, a fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign. He's cooking some delicious desserts for the VIP dinner on Saturday, March 26. On Sunday, March 27, he'll judge a contest with local chefs.
“I'm really looking forward to it, especially for such a great cause,” Pura says.
It's been a hectic, wonderful four months since Pura's milestone win on the show. Though the LGBT community has been strongly represented on seven seasons of the popular television reality contest, we couldn't claim a winner until Just Desserts, which concentrated on the course most chefs dread making. In November of 2010, the handsome, levelheaded pastry pro bested eleven other “chef-testants.” He took the $100,000 prize and captured the hearts of foodie fans everywhere.
We called the busy Pura at his San Francisco home to talk about his past, Top Chef, COOK 2011, and his plans beyond.
WATERMARK: Your family is originally from Ankara, Turkey, correct?
YIGIT PURA: Yes. I moved here when I was twelve years old.
Who encouraged you to cook?
My mom really tried to discourage me to go into cooking”she thought it was not appropriate for a boy to be in the kitchen. I went to business school and then abandoned that. My father really encouraged me to follow my dreams.
How do you make desserts for a living and stay in such good shape?
I exercise, and I bicycle over a hundred miles a week. San Francisco is hilly.
Put to the Test
Top Chef: Just Desserts was a challenge, even by the show's already quick-fire standards. Contestant sniping and gossip defined the season. Four episodes in, chef-testant Seth Cara”who had been having meltdowns and confrontations since Day One “was deemed medically unfit and removed from the show. Pura and two competitors”the flamboyant Zac Young and straight pal Heather Hurlbert”created a friendly alliance called Team Diva, which alienated others. Throughout the season, big, strapping runner up Morgan Wilson grew increasingly tired of colorful Zac and Team Diva. The straight man from Texas seems to have accidents around other people's food prep, ruining their creations. His language also got more and more threatening, homophobic and sexist.
Your season of Top Chef was shockingly dramatic!
I didn't quite have that sense when it was coming together, even though it was challenging. After the shoot, I found out from the producers that this was the roughest thing they'd ever done.
Did you purposely choose to go into the competition as professional and as calm as you were?
Definitely. I know people were catty; I mean, its reality television. But I told myself that when I got back home, I'd still have to be a professional chef. That's important to me, and I wanted my cooking to shine through.
What was the hardest part?
The cooking I can usually do, but dealing with the different personalities was difficult. When I let that get to me, it'd throw me off my game.
Are you still in touch with Team Diva?
Yes, Zac, Heather and I still remain close. The brilliant thing is that the three of us are each different, and we got to meld together through the experience.
Did you think Morgan was homophobic?
At the time, I was hoping that because we're sharing a house for five and half weeks, we could build friendships. It got harder to ignore as it went on. At first, when someone says “fairy” or “little girl,'” or when they make sexist comments, you want to just laugh it off. But as a minority, and as these comments compound over time, they can really hurt. Especially teenagers are susceptible. It was like my teenage years, being bullied by types like Morgan. I know where he's coming from. I tried to focus on my cooking, because if I let his comments and all the other stuff get to me, I'd have been completely thrown off.
Were you surprised you became a sex symbol?
Yes! I had no idea how these things would play out, but it's good PR. I'll take a compliment!
You also won fan favorite”another $10,000.
That was almost just as rewarding, because it shows that a positive attitude can also be attractive. This means reality television isn't all about being catty.
Back to Life
Since winning Top Chef: Just Desserts, Pura has gone back to Taste Catering in San Francisco. He's still working on plans for his new shop, Tout Sweet, which he hopes to open later this year. He also spends a lot of free time helping nonprofits, a special passion of his.
He admits that his busy schedule leaves little room for dating. “My plate is definitely full” with family, friends work and volunteering, he said in a recent interview with the website AfterElton.com.
What's been keeping him so busy? Well, cooking dessert for the president, for one.
You've cooked for Obama twice. What was that like?
The first time around I didn't quite get to see him, but the second time, he was very gracious. He doesn't get to eat a lot of desserts when Michelle is around, because she is very strict about his diet. Since she wasn't there, he was keen on having some dessert. We made him a banana cream pie, but we took it to a whole new level. We actually made a tart shell with brown butter and salted macadamia nuts, and then we made a coconut infusion and flambeau with rum. He was very appreciative, and it was an honor. I'm a big fan.
Do you have any ingredients you're fixated on?
I think that as a chef, you're always looking. I love living in San Francisco, because we have this overabundance of amazing produce and ingredients from all over the world. I discover something new every day, but for the last couple months I've been on a yuzu kick. [It's a tangerine-sized citrus from East Asia.]
How have you been combining your love of food with activism?
That's only been very recently. I had to go through a lot of social conditioning and stereotypes. Coming out at 18 and being a foreigner was tough. I had to fight my own internal homophobia”after that, I felt reborn. It was very important for me to defend our rights and bring us further in life. The show gave me some notoriety, and I wanted to use that as a platform to bring attention to the things I really believe in.
Did what happened with Morgan on the show influence your activism?
I was still going to do it, but he just added a new dimension. I'm certain he was aware of what he was saying; he's a very intelligent man, but he's also opinionated. He just doesn't care how it affects someone else.
What will you be doing at the COOK 2011 event?
I'll be cooking for the VIP reception, making a really fantastic dessert as well as giving a few keynotes. The next day they'll be having this huge festivity, and I'll be participating in that as well. HRC is such a really amazing organization, a group I've always looked up to, the way it represents a lot of minorities. I hope that the whole event strengthens HRC's foundation and spread the word about the great work it does.
You'll also be judging, which is sort of like your experience on Top Chef.
Yes, except this way it's the other way around. I think it will be really fun.
