Bozeman, Mont. — Chef Emma Woods is heading back to national television as the Whistle Pig Korean Restaurant co-owner prepares to compete on Food Network's "Beat Bobby Flay."
Woods, who serves as executive chef and co-owner at the Korean restaurant in Bozeman, says her journey towards cooking and later becoming a chef started at an early age.
"I was adopted to Cape Cod when I was three years old. I grew up there with my parents and two older brothers that are the biological children of my parents," Woods said.
Woods says as she has moved from South Korea to Cape Cod and later to Bozeman, her goal of working in the restaurant industry never changed.
"I just gravitated towards thinking like, 'When I grow up, I'm going to have a restaurant. That was always like, when people will ask, you know, like little kids 'well, what are you going to do when you grow up, or what do you want to do?', it's like 'I'm going to own a restaurant and I'm going to be a chef'," Woods said.
With the success of her downtown Bozeman restaurant that has been in operation since 2014, Woods has now been propelled into the national TV spotlight, winning Food Network's "Chopped", and receiving a second-place finish on "Guy's Grocery Games".
Woods is now taking on yet another challenge - "Beat Bobby Flay".
She says the opportunity to compete and cook at a high level serves as a boost of confidence for her career.
"It's just like another little like confidence boost of like, "oh wow, I can like go up against Bobby Flay? That's crazy!"," Woods said.
Woods says even with the recognition, representing Bozeman and Korea on national television matters because many people in the Montana community may have not had the chance to experience Korean food.
"I think being able to share Korean food is really important, especially in places that don't have, or a lot of the community hasn't had the ability to experience it," Woods said.
She says food helps connect people across cultures and gives communities a simple way to come together.
"And food is such an easy way of bridging gaps between cultures because we all eat, we all love food. So, just being able to share that I think is a really great way of bonding together," Woods said.
Woods' competition against Bobby Flay will air on August 11 on Food Network.