Meet ELIZA DALY | Chef, Food Educator, Feast Fairy

We had the good fortune of connecting with ELIZA DALY and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi ELIZA, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
12.5% of all executive chefs are women. The food industry is a difficult a difficult one: long hours, sleepless nights, enormous to-do lists, fear of failure, wild work environments, and so much more. For me, my feminine side made me a terrific leader, and now a powerful food educator. Food is my love language, and by learning so many angles of the food industry, from food media to food magazine recipe testing, to restaurant line cooking, to catering, to pop up kitchens, I’ve become a better educator.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a 2020 Food Network “Chopped” Champion who has spent the last 12 years working in the food industry so I could share my knowledge with the next generation. I have worked in restaurants all over NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco. Now, a culinary teacher in San Diego, I aim all my efforts at getting folks of all ages to get more comfortable in their kitchens.

I have been so lucky in my culinary walk: I had incredible chef mentors who taught me what I should and should not do, and almost always with kind compassion.

I am a firm believer that anyone can cook, if given the opportunity to learn. I also believe it is our duty as chefs to pass on our food knowledge to the next generation, or it will become a dying art for so many. I believe food is a powerful and universal language of love and connection, and it needs to be practiced and studied by anyone who enjoys eating. I think food education should be the norm, not the exception.

I instill in my students the same care my mentors showed me. I never demand perfection. Instead, I ask them to trust themselves and their two hands.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I bring all my loves to my fun-filled Italian pop up kitchens I run at Baba Coffee in Carlsbad to hear live jazz or Coomber Winery in Oceanside to hear The Swinging Johnsons. No visit would be complete without a trip to Moonlight Theatre for an amazing production or Belly-Up for tremendous music.
We would visit my favorite spots in Oceanside:
-Wrench and Rodent for epic sushi, run by an incredible, sustainability-driven team of super heroes doing all they can to grow and hook their own food
-Craftcoast for some great local brews and delicious birria mulitas
-Pizza from Privateer Coal Fire and a sunset at the beach
-Buccaneer cafe for the best breakfast burrito and sweetest spot to watch surf

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
James Beard Foundation (NYC + CHICAGO) “The James Beard Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission to celebrate, support, and elevate the people behind America’s food culture and champion a standard of good food anchored in talent, equity, and sustainability.”

I was the first Women In Culinary Leadership recipient they featured, pushing more women to take charge in the culinary world.
One of a few articles published about the award and program
https://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/cracking-gastro-ceiling-women-culinary-leadership-grantee-eliza-martin

They are also a part of who invited me to audition for and compete on The Food Network show “Chopped”.

The stepping stone they provided during my internship honed my entire career.

Website: https://www.elizathechef.com/

Instagram: @elizathechef

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizathechef

Other: Winning Chopped Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfTi5LHBx7g

Image Credits
Brandi Rollins Photography