Victoria Heydt

Victoria first fell in love with the incredible ability of food to bring people together when she lived in Madrid, Spain during her undergraduate program and she hasn't been the same since.

After she graduated from her alma mater, Washington College, she worked for a few years in IT as a Project Coordinator until she decided to pursue her passion for cooking full-time.

She attended The Institute of Culinary Education in New York, where she did a dual externship: testing recipes with chef Sara Moulton and working as a prep cook at Huertas—a Spanish tapas restaurant in the East Village.

Upon graduation from culinary school, she worked as a food styling assistant in New York City and New Jersey on several high profile photoshoots with Piggly Wiggly, Good Housekeeping, Keurig Coffee, Christmas Tree Shop, and Pure Protein. During that time, she also worked as a food editor for The Spruce Eats.

After some time in the city, she decided to move to North Carolina for a new adventure. ​Now, she combines her passion for styling and love for food to create mouth-watering dishes for the camera.

Victoria received a bachelor's degree in humanities from Washington College. She also has culinary arts and culinary management certificates from The Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.

5 Questions with Victoria

What food trend would you like to forget?

Toaster quesadillas. When I saw this trend on TikTok my inner fire marshall just freaked. Why?! What happens if the tortilla ripped and the cheese melted onto the toaster coils and caught fire? What happens if the quesadilla got stuck and the cheese melted onto the toaster coils and caught fire? What happens if you put too much cheese into the quesadilla and it poured over the top and the cheese melted onto the toaster coils and caught fire?! (There's a theme here...) It seems like such a silly thing to do when you can just as easily use a saute pan or your microwave and not catch an appliance on fire.

What's the first legit recipe you cooked?

I'm a big breakfast person (I turn into a zombie if I don't have sustenance in the a.m.), so my first attempts at cooking were all egg-related. Specifically, scrambled eggs. I would throw whatever I had in the fridge into my scrambled eggs to test out different flavor combinations. One of my favorites that is still a go-to for me is topping my scrambled eggs with plain Greek yogurt, peach salsa, pickled jalapenos, and hot sauce. The combination of hot and cold, and creamy and crunchy, just does it for me.

Who eats what you cook?

Mostly my friends, and sometimes my dog - Pepper. Since I make a lot of food every week for food photography and recipe testing, I have more than enough to share. So I started hosting Tuesday night dinners with my girlfriends to help clean out my fridge. 

What are you proud of?

Leaving my stable job in IT to pursue culinary school. It was a big leap of faith and I'm so happy and proud that I made the decision to follow a dream of mine. I've made some fabulous friends as a result and have had the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented people from restaurants to food photography to publishing. 

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