![]() While I am usually the one who executes the actual preparation, my bosses Kavita and Thomas Joseph '06, MSLO’s culinary director, will work with me through it to create what we hope to be the best product. The development process is very collaborative. "My biggest piece of advice is to step outside of your comfort zone. ![]() I’ll test anything from a cake to a cookie to even savory dishes (side dishes, proteins, etc.). Other times it means testing out products that have been developed for us to ensure they create the perfect “Martha Moment” for consumers. Often it means taking a recipe from either one of Martha’s cookbooks or from the magazine and further developing it to be sold as a retail product. Depending on the week and project, the products prepared could vary between a number of things. My job as an intern for the Food Development Team is to prepare the products for our team’s daily development and tastings. There are always new projects and challenges to take on, but I’ll do my best to paint a picture for you all. No Such Thing as a “Typical Day” The question I’m sure everyone wants the answer to is, “What is a typical day like?” It’s sort of hard to describe because there really is no such thing. I’ve been exposed to so many new experiences and opportunities, and been able to work in a beautiful test kitchen in Chelsea. I’ve been able to learn so much from both my bosses and the magazine team. Working for the Food Development Team at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) has been so surreal. Through Experiential Education & Career Services, I was able to connect Kavita Thirupuvanam at the Martha Stewart Test Kitchen and was lucky enough to be brought in for an interview. In my search for an advanced internship for my senior year, I knew that I wanted to do test kitchen work somewhere in food media as a stepping stone into food styling and food development. While baking is still my greatest passion, I had realized over time that I also really love food styling and wanted to explore food development. I graduated JWU this past May with a degree in Baking & Pastry Arts. It was a way to express my appreciation for loved ones as well as an outlet to express my own creativity. From then on, I found baking to be more than a hobby. It was called the “Sunflower Cupcake Cake” and was made up of a tiny cake topped with blackberries to mimic the center of a sunflower and was surrounded by dozens of mini cupcakes frosted in various hues of yellows and oranges to mimic the petals. The first big baking task I ever took on was actually something I had seen in an issue of Martha Stewart Living. I slowly went from helping my mom measure out ingredients for chocolate chip cookies to finding recipes to bake all on my own. “My time at Martha Stewart Living has been nothing short of a dream and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”Īs I got older, I found myself wanting to do more baking than cooking. My desire to help my mom with dinner all the time is likely why my earliest memory of being in the kitchen is of me standing on a step stool cutting white button mushrooms with a butter knife. When I was little I remember always watching my mom making dinner in the kitchen. Food has always been just as important to my family as it is to me and it is their shared passion and encouragement that led me to where I am today. Like most people, my love for cooking and baking started at home. Here she reflects on her time in the test kitchen and shares advice for those with the same passion for food media. She recently completed five months exploring the world of food development at the Martha Stewart Test Kitchen in Chelsea, Manhattan. Kayla Hoang '19 is a JWU Providence Baking and Pastry graduate with a deep love for all things food. She also interviews her mom, Saida Chowdhury, who shares her favorite recipe for aloo chop, a kind of fluffy potato croquette with lots of green chiles and herbs. In the first installment, Hoang discusses the ways that her Bangladeshi and Vietnamese identity was profoundly shaped by food. SEPTEMBER 2021 UPDATE: Kayla Hoang '19 is currently curating “At the Table,” a 5-part series for food website The Kitchn where she is asking BIPOC cooks to share personal stories of how their culture is represented (or distorted) through the lens of traditional food media.
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