Lauded Maine Chef Cara Stadler was the only New England-based contestant on the upcoming CBS cooking competition show, “America’s Culinary Cup.”
She was also the only contestant who was pregnant.
Stadler said the showrunners reached out to her last summer to see if she’d be interested in being part of the show, which pits 16 James Beard-nominated and Michelin-starred chefs from around the country against each other for a $1 million grand prize.
“I was like, ‘I can only do it if it’s during my second trimester,’” Stadler said. “It’s the only good trimester you have of the three.”
The timing worked out for her. The show was shot in a Canadian studio over about a month during her second trimester with her second daughter, Lina, who was born mid-February.
“The second trimester tends to be one where you’re not feeling trashed and you’re also not so big you can’t move. As a pregnant person, there are certain things you can’t eat or do, but I was very aware of it — it was totally fine,” said Stadler, who avoided eating raw or unpasteurized food during the shooting.
Her pregnancy helped her keep her stress in check during the competition. “Stress wasn’t really an option. I couldn’t get stressed, because I’d be stressing out Lina, and it just wasn’t worth it,” she said. “I was very conscious of making sure Lina’s health came first.”
Stadler is the former chef and co-owner of Brunswick restaurants Tao Yuan and ZaoZe Cafe and Portland’s Bao Bao Dumpling House. She and her partners were preparing to close ZaoZe, the last of her venues, when the filming was underway.
Stadler plans to take a break from hospitality to focus on her family for a period. “This came as an opportunity to dip my toe back in before my life was completely consumed by children,” she said. “I just wanted to get back to cooking with lots of other professionals, which was incredible.”
Her main takeaway from the “America’s Culinary Cup” experience? “Being away from family is hard. The takeaway was I’m happy I’m taking a break (from restaurants). Restaurant life is all-consuming. I never worked a week that was less than 60 hours as an owner.
“I’ll get back to it,” she added, “but I just don’t want to do it when my little ones are little.”
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Tim Cebula can be reached at [email protected].
