Star” promises to “bring sexy back” to the megahit series that premiered June 5.
“I have a plan to win, and I plan on walking away with the prize,” Iranian-born, Los Angeles-based restaurateur Penny Davidi told the Los Angeles Times. The prize is her own show on the network. The 39-year-old contestant said her goal is to singlehandedly “bring sexy back into the kitchen” with a show she would call “Stilettos in the Kitchen.”
The seventh season of “Food Network Star” features three finalists, including Davidi. The other two Los Angeles-based contestants are Jyll Everman, 31, a finger-food specialist from Glendora and Katy Clark, 34, of Long Beach, a life and fitness coach.
But right from the start, Davidi steals the spotlight with a bold determination to win; critics also point to her willingness to show a sexier side in order to win
Davidi said her confidence is what intimidates the competition. “When you are a little bit confident and secure within yourself, sometimes people get a little intimidated.”
The show remains the network’s most popular program, as fans tune in to see which contestant will get their own cooking show on The Food Network.
“I like to bring a bit of that sexiness into the kitchen,” she says. “I just want to give that same feeling of empowerment to women out there. In January of 2010 I decided ‘I want to be on the Food Network.’ And look where that got me? That’s female empowerment.”
This season, Davidi said she has incorporated Persian spices and flavors into her recipes. “They had tasted sumac but they were like ‘holy cow,’ or even gardeh limoo [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,” Davidi pointed out.
In the first episode, Davidi received a compliment from The Food Network’s senior vice president for marketing and brand strategy, Susie Fogelson. “She really is an empowered woman,” Fogelson said.
In an earlier interview with Persianesque, Davidi—a single mother of two—said: “I was trained … in the kitchen with my grandmother. Chai, shirini [tea, sweets], sitting around, and talking and stories and cooking and eating.…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,” she told Persianesque.
Born in Iran, Davidi moved to Israel at the age of five. She and her family moved to the United States a few years later. “What I’d really like to teach everyone is how to bring the Middle Eastern food flavors to the American kitchen.” After selling her gourmet pizza restaurant, Davidi became a private cooking and pantry instructor.
Davidi told the Los Angeles Times why she deserved to win. “I want to be the first Middle Easterner ever in the history of the network. It’s huge for them. It will be so impactful….This is what I want. Rachael Ray did it. Giada did it. I think it’s time for a Middle Eastern Cook on the Food Network. This is what I want,” she said, adding, “Stilettos in the Kitchen means bringing a little bit of ethnic flair to an American palette. Let me introduce you to my culture, and let me show you how I embrace yours. I think it will have an impact on people…. It will give people a different vision of the Middle East…. If I could bring just a little bit of that, then I am more than happy.”