When Emily Levy played house with her friends as a child, they could always find her in the kitchen. “Other kids had Barbies, I had about 50,000 pieces of plastic food to play with.”
A senior at Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote, PA, Emily has loved food ever since she can remember. She picked up tips from her mom and dad, who both enjoy cooking, “but I also watched about a million hours of the Food Network,” she says, especially her favorite, “Good Eats,” with Alton Brown.
Her parents are very supportive of her interest in cooking, but it might be partly because they are benefiting from it. “Every year I cook them dinner on their anniversary,” she says. “I try to make it as fancy as I can. Last year I made them crabcakes with sweet potato and roasted asparagus. It was a really pretty dish. I am always interested in the artistic aspect, so I pay a lot of attention to plating and colors in a dish.”
She hopes some day to combine her love of cooking with her other interests in communication and drama into a dream job at the Food Network. Look out, Alton Brown!