Per MCPS: Takoma Park Middle School won first place in the 2023 Real Food for Kids Culinary Challenge. This year’s theme was: Fresh Take on Tradition. Students were asked to create plant-forward meals reflecting the school community, as well as the cultural and lived experience of team members. The school has previously won this challenge three times.
Takoma Park created the following traditional Ethiopian dishes: Ethio-nada, a tomato-based red lentil stew seasoned with berbere spices inside whole wheat empanada dough; Atakilt Wot, a cabbage, potato and carrot-based side dish seasoned with homemade spices; and Ethiopian Spris, a layered fruit smoothie drink with spinach, banana and vanilla yogurt on the bottom and frozen fruit with mango, strawberries, peach, pineapple and vanilla yogurt on top.
The competition was open to high school and middle school students across the Washington, D.C. area. This year, 12 schools competed, including two from Montgomery County—Takoma Park and Springbrook High School. Competitors used approved ingredients and USDA school nutrition guidelines to create breakfast, lunch and snack choices for their school cafeterias.