How An Old-School Toy Kickstarted Bobby Flay's Love Of Cooking

Some people are lucky enough to have known what they wanted to do with their lives at a young age, and celebrity chef Bobby Flay is one of them. Part of his love of food began when he was a small child, and in a 2024 interview with "Today" (promoting the release of his book "Chapter One"), he told the morning show that there was one toy that helped spark his curiosity about the subject.

The toy in question was an Easy-Bake Oven, which he received from his parents. He said, "I think I was like five or six. I was watching the commercials during cartoons and after-school specials and stuff like that. And I could not believe that you could actually bake a cake from a light bulb. I needed to see it for myself."

His real career wouldn't start until much later, when he dropped out of high school after his sophomore year. Flay started as a busboy at a restaurant in Manhattan's theater district, which was supposed to be a temporary gig, but was eventually invited to learn how to cook in the kitchen. Decades later, we all know how that story turned out. And Easy-Bake Ovens? They haven't used a light bulb as a heat source since undergoing a redesign in 2006, thanks to some incidents involving unfortunate burns and injuries. But they're still around, inspiring cooks and bakers-to-be to this very day.

If your own childhood Easy-Bake Oven inspired you too, Flay has some career advice if you're looking to pursue a life in the kitchen. When you're as young as he was when he started in high school, Flay says, "Take summer jobs. Don't drop out of high school, like I did. Stay in school, but take summer jobs in restaurants that you think are good, that you like, in your community, and see if you like the business of the restaurant business."

He's appreciative of the fact that a chef and line cook life can be a creative outlet and a place to learn discipline, but admits that it's not a career path for everyone. These are all things you have to learn by living them, and perhaps something you might not pick up as a little one while mixing packets of cake mix in the kitchen. But interest all starts from somewhere, and for this celebrity chef, it was all from a household toy that sprang into an immensely successful career.