23 Feb Confidence is key ingredient for ultimate baker competition

Confidence is key ingredient for ultimate baker competition

Just after learning that team Panera won, Izzy raises his arms to declare victory as Dallas also celebrates.

Izzy Caminero wasn’t nervous when he sat in front of dozens of people, reporters and television cameras in early February at the South Park Mall in Cleveland to compete in the Panera Bread Ultimate Baker Junior Competition.

The 7 year-old said he knew his team was going to win. His secret ingredient: He has been cooking with his mother, Sandy Caminero for years.

The first-grader at Messiah Lutheran Elementary School in Fairview Park said his mother is the second best cook he knows. “I’m the best,” he said.

So, when A Special Wish Cleveland and Covelli Enterprises, the owner of Panera Bread restaurants in the region, teamed up for the competition, it made sense for Izzy to enter. After all, Izzy likes to cook.

Izzy and his partner for the competition, Lily Von Glahn, worked with Dallas Cox, director of baking for Panera’s Cleveland’s operations. And judges selected their creations over those made by celebrity chef Dante Bocuzzi.

But baking is just one of Izzy’s interests.

He likes science, especially how the human body works. And that probably stems from his battle with bone cancer. He finished chemotherapy treatments in June 2015 and has had two clear scans since then. “No cancer,” he shouts.

But he lost part of his leg and will face several surgeries and adjustment to life with a prosthetic leg.

Izzy said his thoughts are on whether he should be a “vet, a chef or a pilot.”

Covelli Enterprises’ Sam Covelli writes more about this event in his blog, Sam Says.