WYCKOFF, NJ — Although Angie Shaghaghi has been eliminated on several competitive cooking shows over the years, including Rachael Ray’s “Chopped” and “Hey, Can You Cook,” she never gave up and never stopped learning. But this summer, his moment has finally arrived.
Shaghaghi, a cooking teacher at Wyckoff, has won two Food Network contest shows — “Kitchen Crash” and “Supermarket Stakeout” — the first which aired in July and the second which premiered this week.
“It’s validation that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do,” Shaghaghi said. “Honestly, I feel that from the bottom of my heart.”
Shaghaghi, a former resident of Wyckoff for 20 years, owns Creative Cooking, a mobile cooking school in Wyckoff, and offers cooking classes at the Wyckoff YMCA. She started a cooking class business out of her Wyckoff home several years ago, spending more than she earned; though, she says, she found she loved the job and never looked back.
Throughout her culinary career, she has appeared on several chef TV shows, although she has never won, that is until this year.
She was crowned winner of “Kitchen Crash”, hosted by chef Jeff Mauro, and “Supermarket Stakeout”, hosted by iron chef Alex Guarnaschelli. She hosted a watch party Tuesday at the Blue Moon Mexican Cafe in Wyckoff to celebrate her $10,000 Supermarket Stakeout win, in which she competed against three other chefs in a ‘pop-up’ kitchen in a grocery store parking lot .
Ever since Shaghaghi was a young girl, she says, cooking has always contributed to a sense of well-being and created a comforting space for her.
“Cooking soothes my soul, and sharing that with others, especially young people, is more than important to me,” she said, adding that her dream was to one day have her own cooking show. and that in the meantime, she would continue to practice.
