Iranian-American Penny Davidi first Middle Eastern on "Food Network Star"
An Iranian-American of Jewish ancestry, Penny Davidi sold her successful business, Pizza Rustica, in 2008 but kept her passion for cooking and the Food Network. And now despite all odds, she is the first ever Middle Eastern finalist in the Food Network’s popular show, Food Network Star. Penny who is a single mother of two daughters, says in her video (below) that she entertained, fed and bonded with her daughters by cooking for them. She also says in an interview with Persianesque; "I was trained ...…in the kitchen with my grandmother .. Chai, shirini (Persian for tea and sweets), sitting around, and talking and stories and cooking and eating. ... they would go shopping .. sabzi (Persian: greens) .. That’s how I remember it, you know there was no food processor to chop vegetables everything was done by hand, and they would stand there and sauté the greens for hours and then put it in little bags and write on it what it was for; this was for kookoo sabzi, this one’s for ghormeh sabzi.. "
The show features 15 finalists who compete towards the ultimate dream job: his or her own Food Network show. The finalists must prove they have the charisma and the culinary prowess, to host/judge Bobby Flay, and to online fans. You can vote up to 10 times per day for Penny on show's webpage (here). Although Davidi is behind in online votes, she is very competitive in the TV show. A Los Angeles Times report indicates that her goal is to singlehandedly "bring sexy back into the kitchen!" quoting Davidi: "I have a plan to win, and I plan on walking away with the prize."
The report applauds Davidi: "If the first episode is any indication, Davidi steals the limelight with her brazen determination." Davidi also earns quite the compliment in the first episode from Food Network's senior vice president for marketing and brand strategy, Susie Fogelson. "She really is an empowered woman," Fogelson says of Davidi. "Whether you like it or not, Penny is who she is."
Davidi says in an interview she has definitely introduced Persian and Middle Eastern spices and flavors to her recipes, for example turmeric, cumin, cardamom, sumac: "They had tasted Sumac but they were like “holy cow”, or even gardeh limoo (Persian: lemon powder). Bobby Flay’s reaction when I grounded up sour lemon, he was blown away. These are old flavors. In the entire history of food network they’ve never had a Middle Easterner."
Season 7 of the cooking equivalent to American Idol premieres Sunday night (9 PM) as "Food Network Star" on the Food Network channel in North America. Hopefully, soon all Americans learn how to cook and appreciate Iranian-style Kabobs and Khoreshts! This was Maz Jobrani' serious solution to solve all political problems between Iran and America (link here).
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