Californian Marissa Diaz, 17, joined a group of culinary classmates over the weekend at the Home and Garden Show in Santa Clara, cooking up samples of steak Florentine, lemon pasta and Malaysian wontons alongside master chefs. Diaz, a student at Adrian Wilcox High School’s Culinary Hospitality and Management Preparation (CHAMP) program, enjoys watching re-runs of the late great chef Julia Child on TV but she hadn’t worked with anyone famous in person – until Saturday. She joined cooking rock stars Martin Yan and Roy Salazar and others, helping prep their demos.

Diaz told the San Jose Mercury News, that cooking “is like that painting. It is artwork. And artists, whether they are in a kitchen or studio, push the boundaries. You are always guessing – what will I do next? What surprises will I do next?”

Cooking students Terence Brinson, 17, left, and Elias Moreno, 16, get instructions from Master Chef Martin Yan before his demonstration. (Photo by LIPO CHING, Mercury News)