Ferndale called Sammy’s Deli.
“I have definitely taken
over the kitchen,” Vieder says.
“Although it wasn’t too much of a
fight from my mom or dad.
“One time, my mom was rush-
ing around the house, like a crazy
person, and she asked if I could
just look in the fridge and make
dinner,” he says. “We had some
leftover chicken, spinach and
too many condiments to count. I
ended up making this awesome
honey balsamic-glazed chicken
with wilted spinach and I served
it over some Israeli couscous. My
family was pretty impressed!
“I love how I can make people
happy when I’m cooking,” Vieder
says. “People unite over food,
and to be the glue that holds
everyone together is really cool.
When I’m cooking, I feel an
adrenaline rush.”

Vieder, who used to discuss
episodes of cooking programs
with his Adat Shalom preschool
teachers, will soon be watching
himself on a popular television
cooking show. When the sixth
season of Fox’s MasterChef Junior
premieres with a special two-
hour episode at 8 p.m. Friday,
March 2, Vieder can be seen as
one of 40 contestants chosen
after a nationwide search —
which family and friends will
celebrate with a viewing party at
a restaurant.
The contestants on
MasterChef Junior are between
the ages of 8 and 13 and com-
pete in timed cooking chal-
lenges judged by a panel of well-
known chefs: Season six judges
are host Gordon Ramsay, Joe
Bastianich (Del Posto, Eataly)
and Christina Tosi (Momofuku

Milk Bar).
Called the “best young home
cooks in America,” by Ramsay,
contestants on MasterChef Junior
know how to create and plate
dishes that appear to rival a meal
served at some of the world’s fin-
est restaurants.
These kids seem to understand
the art and science of great cook-
ing and use their skills to impress
the judges and viewers alike.
Those who don’t measure up are
eliminated until one contestant
walks away with the MasterChef
Junior trophy and $100,000.
Of course, Vieder can’t say or
even hint at who won the show
or how far he got. Contestants
(and their parents) sign lengthy
legal documents outlining the
do’s and don’ts of being on the
reality show and face hefty penal-
ties for violating the confidential-
ity agreement.
“People are always saying: ‘Oh,
you can tell me. I’m not going to
tell anyone.’ Still, I don’t say any-
thing,” Vieder says.
While viewers are awed by
the creations that come out of
the MasterChef Junior kitchen
— some of these pint-size chefs
know how to make (and pro-
nounce) dishes like croquem-
bouche (a gorgeous tower of
cream puffs held together with
caramel and sugar) — viewers
can’t help but wonder how an
8-year-old (or even a 13-year-old)
can concoct such an elaborate
dish, let alone do it in an hour. It
seems inconceivable.
Vieder’s response to the
improbability: “All these kids are
very talented. Every night most
of them will, instead of just chill-
ing, spend their time studying

TOP RIGHT: Sammy (center) invited
new friends from the show to his
cooking-themed bar mitzvah last
June. ABOVE: Always a chef: Sammy
celebrates turning 7 with a cooking-
themed birthday party. TOP LEFT:
Chef Sammy Vieder, performing
daring feats of deliciousness in his
Huntington Woods home.

and memorizing recipes.”
Mom Stacy adds: “The kids
would hang out at night or in the
hotel pool during their free time
and talk cooking or play games
like ‘give me a mystery dish’ or
another called ‘chopped,’ where
they’d give each other four ran-
dom ingredients and each had to
come up with a dish. These kids
have an incredible passion for
cooking and you can tell they get
a lot of pride from their dishes.”
That’s not to say that Vieder
and the other contestants didn’t

jn

pick up additional cooking skills
from being on the show. There
were times when the cameras
weren’t rolling and the kids had
additional training to hone their
skills. But during the on-screen
challenges, it was all them.
In addition to cooking and
taping the show, there were the
mandatory school hours to fit
in — 15 per week. All the con-
testants worked with tutors on
age-appropriate schoolwork.
This presented a bit of a problem
for Vieder, a student at Hillel Day
School, since none of the tutors
spoke Hebrew. Getting back to
school was a struggle, but Vieder
managed to pass all his classes
despite being away during the
fall of 2017.
In 2015, Vieder first auditioned
for the fifth season of MasterChef
Junior but was eliminated in the
final round. So when asked to try
out again, he was ecstatic over
the possibility of being on the
show he’d been watching since it
first aired in 2013.
Last June, right after Vieder
finished seventh grade, he and
his mom went to Chicago to
audition for the second time.
Four months later, he was one
of 40 kids invited to Los Angeles
where 24 of the 40 would get a
MasterChef Junior apron — their
ticket to compete on the show.
“I was nervous about failing. I
didn’t want to get an apron and
then be the first one out because
I did so much interviewing and
preparing. Once on the show
I was nervous about cutting
myself, getting burned or drop-
ping a dish. You can work hard
for 59 of the 60 minutes you’re
given in a challenge and if you

February 22 • 2018

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