Westfield Middle School Chef Competes On 'Chopped Jr.'

WESTFIELD, NJ - A culinary journey that began as a way to help reduce his screen time has led Westfield seventh grader Jamie Foerst to an on-screen appearance as he is competing in Food Network's "Chopped Jr." Tuesday night.

"Chopped Junior" is a variation of the popular Food Network show that has four chefs competing to create an appetizer, entree and desert course under tight time constraints and utilizing a mystery basket of ingredients.

At the end of each round a panel of judges eliminates one contestent, "chopping them" from the game until only one is left. That person, is crowned Chopped Champion. Foerst's competition was age appropriate as he played against other kids.

"It was really fun. All of the contestants were nice," Foerst said. "We all became friends.”

Jamie's mother Cara said that she allowed him and his brother Collin to help bake and cook things at a very early age.

"After a while he could do a lot of things on his own. This became clear when we started getting boxed meal kits," she said. "He would take the ingredients and instructions and just prepare and cook the entire meal on his own. Jamie was in 4th grade at the time."

Beyond a pasta making and a baking class one summer, Cara Foerst noted that Jamie is self taught.

"After he gained confidence with the boxed meals, he started looking up recipes on the internet, watching cooking videos and t.v. shows," she said. "He would then try to make the dishes or use the techniques in our kitchen."

Cara Foerst noted that Jamie got to Chopped Junior mostly on his own. He applied to be a contestant for a couple of shows he watched on Food Network and after an interview for "The Kids Baking Challenge" didn't result in an offer to appear, the family thought it was over.

But that was a half-baked notion.

"One snow day in late January I got an email from a casting agent," Cara Foerst said. "Jamie did the final interview with the producer on a Friday in early March. It was a super busy weekend for us, Jamie was in the school musical and was competing in Odyssey or the Mind, his brother’s basketball team was in the league championship. He did a great job with the producer. We had no idea if he would move on but we were really proud of him. We received an email letting us know he was chosen the following week."

Cara and her husband and Jamie's father Jim told their son the next day when they got home from work.

"I was dying inside," Jamie Foerst said.

After that the preparation began in earnest and the entire family was in it. "Collin, Jim and I would go to the grocery store and try to put together baskets using strange ingredients or things we thought might be in his basket," Cara Foerst said.

Jamie said they were constantly making dishes with mixed results.

"Sometimes they were failures but I think that was good because it prepared me to make something in 30 minutes,” he said.

How Jamie performed in the competition is a spoiler not released to the press. His episode, titled "Duck, Duck, Chopped!" aris Tuesday at 8 p.m. and features guest judge and actress Bailee Madison.

Even though he was sworn to secrecy, Jamie noted he had his fellow contestants, and new friends to talk to about the experience.

"The kids made a chat group and all kept in touch," Cara Foerst said. "It was nice because they couldn’t talk about the experience with anyone else."

Of the contest itself Jamie said it wasn't easy due to the pacing.

"Cooking something in 30 minutes was a challenge because you just can’t take any breaks," he said. "It was exciting but also I was stressed.”

As for his own cooking style, Jamie noted that he doesn't have a favorite dish but he likes to cook things with a lot of flavor.

"I like to try and make things that I eat at restaurants," he said, noting that his signature dish is chicken parm.

Outside of the kitchen, Jamie plays piano and trumpet, takes voice lessons and is into musical theater. He loves Odyssey of the mind, the team problem solving competition, and is on the swim team.

But does a busy schedule with all that cooking practice leave time for Jamie to help with the cleaning?

"He helps clean up but I would definitely that say clean up is his weakness in the kitchen," Cara Foerst said. "On 'Chopped Jr.' he didn’t have to worry about cleaning up there were producers who took care of cleaning up the stations."

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