With 700 on the psychometric exam and a background in physics Olympiads, Coral Hota Solomon seemed set for computer science; instead, an audition led her to food content, nearly 500,000 followers and a new life onlineMali Zaidman|With 296,000 followers on Instagram, another 173,000 on TikTok and 40,000 on YouTube, Coral Hota Solomon, 27, is one of Israel’s leading food influencers. She is known for her huge curls, long nails and indulgent, tempting recipes. Now she sits across from me, beautiful in the final trimester of her first pregnancy, drinking iced coffee and getting those half-recognizing looks from people nearby, the kind reserved for someone they are used to seeing in story format.Her dazzling career has taken shape over the past five years. Before that, she dreamed of very different things. Even the curls were not always there.GalleryCoral Hota (Photo: Ido Erez)“I was an insane nerd, the nerdiest you can imagine,” she says. “I studied 10 units of computer science, five physics, five math, five English. In the summer I flew to the particle accelerator in Switzerland. That was my dream. During summer vacations, I didn’t go to camp. I went to courses at the Technion, physics Olympiads, things like that. Style, friends and all that did not interest me.”“Until the army, I didn’t even have curls, which today are so identified with me. I only had straight hair, always blow-dried. People didn’t even know I was curly. Then I enlisted and spent about six months in basic training and the course, and you’re not allowed to bring a straightener or a blow dryer, so I simply discovered the curls.”The army brought another change. Hota served in the navy at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, in what she describes as “a crazy role that I really wanted, but one that was very draining. I didn’t sleep for two years.” During that period, she gained weight.“I had never weighed myself. My weight never interested me,” she says. “Then suddenly in the army I realized that from week to week, the uniform no longer fit me. Just during basic training and the course, I gained about 15 kilos. I went online and read that to lose weight you have to cut flour, carbs and sweets, so I did that. I lost a lot of weight and stopped getting my period. I didn’t get it for two years.“My parents were worried, but I promised them I was eating healthy and working out. I had no desire for food. I became apathetic toward it, and that was really depressing. So I went into the kitchen to try to make myself things that were both tasty and within my limits, lower in calories and high in protein. That’s how it started.”After her discharge, she returned home to Haifa, where her mother works in insurance and her father works at Rafael. She is the eldest of three siblings. She scored 700 on the psychometric exam, began teaching in psychometric prep courses and was preparing for the studies she had dreamed of, computer science at the Technion. At the office, she baked cakes and treats for her colleagues, and they responded by signing her up for auditions for the 10th season of “MasterChef.”Looking back, that was the turning point.