The ‘Stupid Kid’ Who Won a World Cookbook Award

Last August I released Craveable Obsessed: Journals of a Food Addicted Chef.

It took me seven years to figure out what to write about.

Seven years of circling my own story. Seven years of hearing echoes of what I was told as a kid: “You’ll never amount to anything.”

I hated reading. I hated spelling even more. And nothing filled me with more sheer panic than a spelling bee. That moment of being mocked, laughed at, called stupid.

I read slow. I felt illiterate. And I carried that shame everywhere I went.

Breaking Silence

People say I boast too much now. That I “toot my own horn.”

What they don’t understand is this: I was told to stay silent. I spent years feeling unheard, unseen, a burden. I don’t tell my story for me. I tell it for the people sitting in their own hell thinking they’re alone.

Planting the Seed

I got to know Amelia Levin through a chef’s networking circle. One day we were talking and she said: “Why not write about mental health and cooking?”

That seed sat with me. But my mind doesn’t move in straight lines, dyslexia, ADHD, it fires like a pinball machine. I chased systems and notebooks trying to organize myself, not realizing what I was really searching for: my story.

Growing Up “Stupid”

I was held back in third grade. My family had a meeting without me and decided I should be pulled out and sent to private school.

My head translated that into one message: “See? You’re stupid.”

By junior year, my GPA was a 1.4. I almost ended it all. Senior year I clawed back, graduated with decent grades. In college, at 20, I finally found out I was dyslexic. My pediatrician told me he hadn’t told me earlier because he “didn’t want me to use it as a crutch.”

Back then I wanted to put his head through a wall. Now I see it differently. But that knowledge, that all the shit I went through might have been different. I cannot change my past, it is what made me: ME!

And just last year, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Another layer. Another loop inside my head I had to fight. But instead of collapsing under it, I made a choice: to see what I’ve accomplished despite never knowing.

The Book That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen

Becoming an author was a pipe dream.

I asked questions, I picked the brains of chefs and writers. A Master Chef once told me he wrote his newsletters as if he was speaking to himself starting out. That stuck.

Still, people close to me said things like, “I haven’t read your book. I don’t like your style of writing.”

News flash: I didn’t write it for you.

On June 27th, 2025, when the Gourmand Cookbook Awards announced winners, I braced myself for nothing. I told myself: It’s okay. You didn’t win. You wrote this for people who need to hear they’re not alone.

Then I saw my book cover. I’d actually placed. Fourth in the world.

Me. The stupid kid. An award-winning author.

Family, Forgiveness, and Fire

Some family members don’t speak to me anymore. I’m okay with that.

But then one cousin texted me: “I read your book. I know you more than ever. I know myself even more.”

That floored me. That’s why I tell my story.

And then another family member reached out, someone who said, “I’m sorry for what you went through.” They weren’t the abuser. They didn’t owe me an apology. But they felt it.

I told them: don’t apologize. Don’t take on blame that isn’t yours.

I think back to my father’s last words to me: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I did to you and made you feel about yourself.”

Forgiveness changed me. Forgiving him. Forgiving myself for replaying that loop over and over. The weight that lifted when I finally let that go, impossible to put into words.

From Pipe Dream to FOX 13

On August 21, 2025, I went on FOX 13 Tampa and cooked a dish from my book.

Food isn’t my coping mechanism anymore. Food is how I tell my story.

An old friend said to me recently: “Twenty years ago you always said you wanted to cook your food. Now look at you.”

Life is smoke, fire, char. But that’s what forges us.

I am an award-winning chef. An author. A father.

Not in spite of what I went through, but because of it.

Final Word

You can change your stars.

It takes strength. It takes resilience.

And it takes refusing to let anyone else write your ending.

If you haven’t picked up Craveable Obsessed yet, maybe my story will help you on your own journey.

👉 Watch my FOX 13 segment here

I want to share my deepest gratitude for everyone who has reached out, texted, called, or emailed me to say how Craveable Obsessed has touched their lives. Every message reminds me why I wrote this book. It tells me these conversations about food, mental health, and resilience matter. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your journey while sharing mine.

#justonelife