Winner will appear in Taste of Home magazine, cook with Carla Hall, and take home $25,000

Quarter-Finalist

Athena Maria Pengg

As a Puerto Rican/Austrian with a Greek name; exploring the world with infinite flavors and fusions steers me towards recipe development.

Currently 8

in the Quarter-Finals

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You decide who will appear in Taste of Home magazine, and win $25,000!

Voting for Semi-Finalists ends Thursday the 22nd of May at 7PM PDT

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Who or what inspires you to cook?

My Mom taught me to read recipes, apply math and cook with love as a child. I was only allowed to watch educational TV so watching Food Network with my Mom was very special. At age 7, I won first place dressed as the “Iron Chef Athena Cooking Show” at a costume contest! What inspires me to cook is learning new challenging techniques and tricks. Diagnosed with Type1 Diabetes at age 11, I find ways to hack recipes, make them more nutritious yet delicious without compromising flavo

What's your all time favorite dish to make?

Favorite to make: Sourdough Bread and yeasted pastries. I just love working with dough because I'm always learning something new. Honestly, I rarely make the same thing twice. Favorite to eat: Anything with melty cheese and acid… for example Birria tacos... Brb got to get cooking!

What would you do with the $25,000?

I am 21 and working on my Masters in International Relations. I would invest the 25K into my entrepreneurial culinary dream of traveling around the world to learn about who’s cooking what and how. I will take that knowledge as a baseline for the development of new flavor fusions while respecting traditional cultural recipes. I will also donate money to support the Diabetes Research Institute in finding the cure for T1D (stay cure-ious 😉).

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