Alumni Interview: Zac Young

By Casey Feehan

Chefs get their inspiration from many different places, but it was a well-timed fortune cookie that helped ICE alum Zac Young realize that his future was in the kitchen. Since graduating from the Pastry & Baking career program, Zac has gained widespread recognition as a contestant on Top Chef: Just Desserts and has led the pastry team at some of New York's top restaurants.

What were you doing before you enrolled at ICE? Was there something that sparked your decision to attend culinary school? 

I was working in the wig department at Radio City Music Hall. I decided that baking cookies would be a fun hobby and found myself becoming obsessed with the balance of creativity and structure involved in baking. Baking can be very precise: there are only so many alterations you can make within a recipe before it fails, and what I found was that I really enjoyed playing with those boundaries. As the Christmas season was winding down, my mother called and said, "You don't talk about theater anymore: all you talk about are your damn cookies. Go to culinary school." That night, I ordered chinese food and the message in my fortune cookie said, "Some men dream of fortunes, some men dream of cookies." The universe was telling me something.