Sarah Penrod to add some Heat to Fiery Food Challenge

Attention Fiery Food Challenge Contenders - New Feature for Some of the Winners at ZestFest 2015!

Show producer, Greg Bagarozy has announced that the very popular up and coming star chef, Sarah Penrod will be a star of ZestFest 2015 and will be one of the Celebrity Chefs on the big cooking stage.  Sarah was recently featured on the Food Networks “Next Food Network Star”.  Besides acting as a special spokesperson for ZestFest for the 2015 show, Sarah will put the spotlight on some of the Fiery Food Challenge Winners by adding their heat to some special dishes she will cook up on the Celebrity Chef Stage. 

Sarah Penrod was born and raised in North Texas. She grew up on the stage performing in musical theater and singing country music. At 23 she left the world of entertainment to pursue her first love - cooking.

Sarah graduated from Scottsdale Culinary Institute in 2008 and hightailed it back to Texas, sharpening her skills at the opulent 4-star restaurants on the Riverwalk in San Antonio.  Within a year Sarah had become a celebrated South Texas private chef. Her clients included Eva Longoria, Tony Parker, Lyle Lovitt, Vicki Carr and the San Antonio Spurs.  During this time, Sarah hosted cooking segments on Great Day San Antonio, and headlined Food and Wine shows in the Texas Hill Country.

Sarah was invited to the White House for the launch of Chefs Move to Schools in 2010 and joined First Lady Michelle Obama’s fight to end childhood obesity.  Sarah is considered the “Hill Country Ambassador” encouraging other chefs to partner with school districts to bring about nutritional change and education in the school lunch program.

Sarah produced and hosted a local travel food show, Let’s Eat Houston - aimed at informing the wave of new Houstonians moving to the area where to get the best underground eats! 

In 2013   Sarah was invited by Food Network to be one of the 12 finalists on Season Ten of its hit show - Food Network Star.