A Day in the Life of a Food Network Summer Intern

      (A Really Cool Day, Not Just an Everyday-Day)

ARTICLE BY JORDAN BREWINGTON || SUMMER 2015

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Inside the Food Network office!

8:35-8:50a – Snooze alarm. Snooze again. Promise to commit to an earlier bedtime tonight. Fantasize about jumping back into bed, something I know won’t be happening in the next 15+ hours.

9:20a – Leave for work. Enjoy the quiet hum of Morningside Heights in the morning before diving into the pits of hell, a.k.a. the New York City subway in the heat and stench of July. I stay distracted by immersing myself in my new Kindle. I just downloaded From Scratch: The Uncensored History of the Food Network, a biography by journalist Allen Salkin (Was that a subliminal plug?) which pumps me up for work!

9:45a – Arrive at Chelsea Market. Weave my way through early morning tourists ogling at the strange architecture and overwhelming food options, and head straight to the Manhattan Fruit Exchange; a small, industrial-like store filled with every type of fruit and vegetable imaginable (Starfruit is a staple here). I adore this place and nearly depend on it every morning. I don’t know how they manage to carry both the freshest and cheapest fruit in the whole city, fruit which is also today’s breakfast!

The Manhattan Fruit Exchange

10a-12p – Arrive at the office. Answer any emails, assist the Off-Air Marketing team (meaning billboards, magazine ads, subways, taxi tops, etc.) and Digital Marketing team in any way imaginable. Learn, learn, and learn some more while surrounded by people who love food, travel, and home just as much as I do. Today, the interns from a media agency that works closely with our marketing team are coming for a tour of the offices so things are slightly more hectic than normal.

My desk!

12p-1p – Trail the intern tour into the Test Kitchen (across from the Chopped studio!) Here, I watchthe Test Kitchen chefs and bakers work their magic creating recipes for shows, FoodNetwork.com, and Food Network magazine. The kitchen smells like sugar and butter and sauces and love. The chefs are chopping away, measuring and recording, and of course, taste-testing . Standing in  the center is randomly Tia Mowry, working with a few sous chefs on recipes for her show, Tia Mowry at Home, on the Cooking Channel (so many plugs, I can’t help it). We all pretend not to fangirl while snapping quick, not-so-subtle pics of the back of her head on our way out.

1p-2p – Because the media interns are here, the Food Network interns get a free lunch (yay! I can splurge on dinner!) catered to the Chelsea offices: pole-caught tuna sandwiches with fennel, nicoise olive tapenade, aioli and lemon confit from ‘Wichcraft. Free lunches pretty much make my week and maybe even my entire summer.

The entry to the Food Network Office

2p-6p – Return to my desk, buzzed from all the excitement. Help approve commercial spots that will be seen across the country. Create some funny GIFs of Michael Symon’s new show, Burgers, Brew & ‘Que, for the Digital Marketing team, a.k.a. that team that connects  the corporate world with the “youth”. Help give feedback to Buzzfeed on our promotional Buzzfeed list for Camp Cutthroat. Get to see the finalized, approved creative for the Camp Cutthroat marketing campaign. My attempts to fight my sweet tooth fail, and I find myself sneaking downstairs to get a cup of panna cotta gelato at L’Arte del Gelato. Spend the rest of the day assisting my manager and subtly watching an episode of Chopped. Did I mention we have access to almost any Food Network show ever aired?
6p-2am – The work day’s over – walk a few blocks to meet friends and marvel at the beauty of Chelsea. Run around the city, spot a couple of Camp Cutthroat taxi tops (and squeal). Go to bed too late. The day is done!

Jordan Brewington is a rising junior at Columbia University