14-Year-Old Chef Lauren Zilberman, Of Gravesend, To Appear On ‘Chopped Junior’

Gravesend’s Lauren Zilberman may be on course to realize her dream of hosting her own Food Network show.

The 14-year-old chef, who just entered the 9th grade at Edward R. Murrow High School, has already appeared on last year’s season of Rachael vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off, where she made it to the finals. Now, the teenage kitchen master is scheduled to appear in the network’s other competitive cooking show for kids: Chopped Junior.

The TV show pits young girls and boys between the ages of 9 and 15 against each other in a series of grueling challenges that test their cooking ability as well as their creativity in the kitchen. The season winner will be awarded a $10,000 grand prize. The show finished taping this summer and Zilberman is scheduled to make her first appearance in an episode that airs sometime after late December, according to a spokesperson for the Food Network.

“It was really fun to film and it was just a great experience overall,” Zilberman said of her time on the set. “I learned that you can mix very strange ingredients and the show kind of forced us to be creative and think outside of the box.”

Zilberman was introduced to cooking when she was 7 years old. Her mom loved to bake, she said, and started asking her daughter to help her out in the kitchen.

“My mom would maybe ask me to help her with the eggs, measure water, get the flour. And the concept of cooking just became really interesting to me,” Zilberman said. “So one day I decided to bake a cake all by myself, no injuries happened, And I just fell in love with cooking.”

Zilberman soon learned to work the stovetop and how to use a skillet and knife. Most of her recipes were inspired by watching Food Network shows — and Zilberman said she became particularly enamored with Rachael Ray.

“I think that she has a lot of spunk when she cooks,” Zilberman said of her Food Network idol. “I really do look up to her. I love all her recipes and I have tried to recreate a lot of them.”

Zilberman said much of her meals are inspired by Mediterranean cuisine. She’s particularly proud of her risotto and lasagna. Ultimately, Zilberman hopes to attend a culinary school after she graduates from Murrow, and then follow in the footsteps of Rachael Ray.

“Hosting my own show would be pretty nice. I’ve dreamed about doing that for a while. But if I just get to compete on more shows, that’s also fine,” she said.

You can check out Zilberman’s audition tape for Rachael vs. Guy here:

Zilberman said the challenges she encountered on Chopped Junior taught her a lot about what it takes to be successful as a television chef. She said the judges were really helpful and provided a lot of guidance.

“The judges were all really nice. And they really understood where the kids were trying to get their ideas from,” she said.

Good luck on your journey Lauren!