Iron Chef America and the Next Iron Chef, or from her regular contribution to NBC’s The Today Show, but her roots are as humble as one of her signature dishes: pizza. “Pizza is a beloved and simple food, but it there is an art to it,” Arpaia said. “Pizza is in my blood.”

As the first-generation daughter of Italian immigrants, Arpaia fondly remembers spending her summers in Italy. The experience shaped her palette, and laid the foundation for her pizza making prowess. “I have a sense memory of biting into Neapolitan pizza when I visited Italy as a child,” Arpaia recalled. “As every child does, I loved pizza in America, but that memory made an impact on me. After graduating from culinary school, I wanted to recreate it.”