St. Louisan Tarek Husseini will be representing home bakers during Holiday Baking Championship on Monday, Nov. 3. Now a sophomore at Yale University, Husseini’s appearance will be his second on Food Network after being runner-up on Kids Baking Championship at 13 years old.
“I’ve been baking for a decade at this point,” Husseini said. He and his family are originally from St. Louis, but as a kid, they moved all over, including to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “Famously it’s a massive desert: It has urban aspects, but it is also super hot [and] super dry.” Husseini described himself as previously being a kid who loved to play outdoors, but with the adjustment to a new environment came the need for a new hobby too. He has a massive sweet tooth, and he started baking by trying to copy a YouTube video. “I guess I just never really stopped,” he said.
When Husseini and his family moved back to St. Louis, he continued to enjoy “making a mess in the kitchen” and refined his skills further. When he was in the eighth grade, he competed on Kids Baking Championship. “I feel like I’m repeating everything I did when I was kid with more self-awareness, which is pretty cool,” Husseini said of his time on Holiday Baking Championship and the aftermath. When he was 13, his teachers let him out of class to do interviews, and now, he’s fitting them in between college classes and mid-terms.
Husseini is currently the president of Y Pop-Up, a Yale group that puts on pop-up restaurants. He credits this group for resparking his love for baking after the stress of high school. After rediscovering this passion, he applied for Holiday Baking Championship and successfully got cast. He utilized the student kitchen to practice for his upcoming appearance, while all the other contestants on his season have some sort of professional baking experience. Husseini has previously spent time teaching kids baking classes at Kitchen Conservatory, but he has no formal baking training. “Here I am at the age of 19 representing the home bakers,” he said. “There were some people baking longer than I’ve been alive.”
During filming this summer, Husseini grew close with his cast during the long days that often started with him waking up at 6 a.m. “Part of me forgot how intense the contest can feel,” he said. “I consider myself an extremely competitive human being.” He couldn’t give too many details about the contest without giving spoilers, but being in a competitive environment again unlocked ideas and techniques that he didn’t know he had in him. Once he got into a groove, he stopped feeling intimidated by the experienced contestants surrounding him. “It made me realize that I’m better than I thought I was.”
Currently, Husseini is double-majoring in economics and global affairs at Yale University. One of his favorite classes this semester is History of Food and Cuisine, which will bring in professional chefs to connect with the class. Husseini is most looking forward to restaurateur and fellow St. Louis native Danny Meyer’s visit. While Husseini spends most of his time in New Haven, Connecticut, as a student, his family is still based in St. Louis, which is where he spends his school breaks. He cited Made. by Lia as one of his go-to bakeries in St. Louis, but most of the time, he’s baking for himself. “I like doing things you would see in a patisserie window,” he said. “For me it’s all about showcasing the ingredients you’re using, [and] my favorite things to do are things that make food look pretty.”
Tarek Husseini will appear on Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship on Monday at 7 p.m. CT, with streaming available the following day.