For most kids, a love affair with food has more to do with sneaking candy than making ravioli from scratch. After all, it's challenging enough to get children to eat home-cooked meals, let alone wonder how they were made. But when Gaby Velkes was about to turn 8, she asked if she could have a birthday party with a cooking theme. Having heard about personal chefs, she wondered if one could come to her house in Los Angeles to give instruction to a few of her friends. Five guests learned how to make pizza and homemade pasta, then feasted on the results. But while most sophisticated third-graders would have just dabbed their lips clean and bounced back to their rooms to watch the latest Hilary Duff DVD, Gaby stayed in the kitchen—and a simmering interest in cooking rose to a full boil. Now, three years after the party, she's still more compelled by Giada De Laurentiis than Lizzie McGuire. "It all started with pancakes," she says. "I loved pouring things into things and mixing them up."
These days Gaby spends most of her free time poring over cookbooks (her favorite is Julia Child's The Way to Cook), trolling the supermarket aisles in search of the most fragrant tomatoes, and catering dinner parties for her parents. Her television diet consists mostly of Food Network staples. She started watching Emeril Live! with her mother but has since moved on to Good Eats, a cooking show with a science angle. For Hanukkah last year, Gaby asked only for kitchenwares, including an old-fashioned eggbeater. Two years ago, she took her passion on the road and attended "cooking camp," where she learned to make empanadas with squash blossoms, as well as pot stickers, which she modified for her mother's vegetarian diet. Last year, Gaby spent her Saturdays interning at a local restaurant, assisting the pastry chef with manual work such as mixing dough. "I loved going into the big refrigerator," she says. The kitchen staff kept a crate in the corner for her to stand on. And at the end of each day, Gaby would go home exhausted, exhilarated, and with pockets full of chocolate.
Next Page: "I love to cook, and to have my friends enjoy it is a bonus."
