Ready ... set ... cook!
It was that exact Food Network television show that sparked a 9-year-old's interest in cooking. Before MJ Worsham knew it, he was working at prestigious restaurants in Washington, D.C., before he even could drive.
Worsham (junior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) said he watched cooking shows as a kid and taught himself how to cook.
"I learned pretty much everything off of the TV," Worsham said, "You can learn a lot and not realize it. It's all about the technique, and I didn't care what the chefs were cooking -- I wanted to cook what I wanted to cook. I just wanted to know what the hell I was doing."
Once he hit the fifth grade, his teacher Geoff Favero noticed his skill in the kitchen and thought it would be a great idea to notify The Rosie O'Donnell Show about his talent.
"MJ talked about cooking at school all the time," Favero said. "Once or twice, he brought in samples of food for me. More than anything, he knew all of these chefs kids his age didn't know, and he always talked about them, and he knew all about the Food Network. That impressed me, and I felt the need to support him."
Favero said he was browsing online and came across a competition on The Rosie O'Donnell Show -- the show was searching for kid chefs under the age of 10. A small demo video of Worsham was sent to the show, and even though Favero felt good about what was sent, he thought the chances of him making something like that would be slim.
"About a month and a half after sending in information to the show, I got a phone call from a production assistant and said they would like to schedule an appearance for me on the show," Worsham said. "It was big news, it was great, it was awesome to hear. It was also kind of nerve-wracking, but it also kind of wasn't because I felt so comfortable with cooking."
In November 2000, while taping the episode on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Emeril Lagasse made a surprise appearance on set. He asked Worsham to stick around New York City for a few days to go on Emeril Live.
BAM!
In a matter of a week, Worsham was on two major network television shows. He even managed to meet the New York Giants, thanks to a special Emeril Live episode about tailgating.
Once he returned home to Maryland, Worsham and his parents had dinner at Signatures, a restaurant where chef Morou Ouattara was working.
Worsham said a server had seen him pair his parents' dinner with a specific wine. It wasn't just any wine -- it was the perfect pairing. The manager asked him to return on an evening when the head chef would be in the kitchen.
He had his first gig at the restaurant as a 12-year-old -- and he had never had professional cooking lessons.
"In cooking, it's not an academic thing -- you get a hands-on professional education," Worsham said. "I've never gone and had any formal cooking training, but I would say the knowledge that I have is pretty good."
After his family moved from Maryland to Hershey, Pa., Worsham lost the opportunity to work in high-end restaurant kitchens, and his interest in cooking began to decline.
In his senior year in high school, he applied to two colleges: The Culinary Institute of America and Penn State. He was accepted to both schools, but he decided to come to Penn State and study business.
But once he found out that Penn State's hotel, restaurant and institutional management program was ranked highly, he opted to make it his major. This way, he would be able to combine his knowledge of food and get a business background, Worsham said.
Even though he doesn't want to go directly into a culinary job after graduation, Worsham said he can see himself opening a restaurant a decade or two in the future.
"What I want to do doesn't really put me in a restaurant or hotel, but it does give me the background if I ever want to go back to it," Worsham said. "At some point, I'd be pretty well-rounded and able to open up my own restaurant or work for a large restaurant."
