Ozersky was born in Miami in 1967. He moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1979 when his father, the painter David Ozersky, got a job as a stage technician in the first of the area's casino-hotels, Resorts International. He attended Atlantic City High School and Rutgers University. His mother, Anita Ozersky, died suddenly when he was 14 years of age. Of his interest in food, he has said in interviews, "I was a friendless child, and a solitary and celibate teenager ... my father and I only spoke about movies and food, and food far more than movies. He was a great gastronome and taught me to self-medicate my loneliness with steaks and sausages." He later attended New York University's School of Journalism and started work towards a doctoral degree at the University of Notre Dame, where he eventually received a master's degree in American history.
