Takoma Park Middle School and Shady Grove Middle School will compete in the 13th Annual Real Food for Kids Culinary Challenge on March 8 at Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria, Virginia.
The event will feature ten teams from regional middle and high schools, with students presenting USDA-compliant dishes to a panel of judges while also offering public tastings and a “Community Choice” award vote.
Per the news release: “Real Food for Kids, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing nutrition security for children, will hold its 13th Annual Culinary Challenge on Saturday, March 8 at Hayfield Secondary School (7630 Telegraph Rd., Alexandria, Va. 22315.) Ten teams will compete from eight regional middle and high schools. Teams will be from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Montgomery counties. The public is invited to attend at no charge although RFFK asks that attendees register here. Doors open to the public at 9:30 a.m. with public tasting of student dishes and exhibits from noon to 1:05 p.m. The public will be able to vote for favorite breakfast and smart snack items as the “Community Choice” Award. From 11:15 to 11:55 a.m., a celebrity chef cooking demonstration features award-winning RASA’s co-founder Rahul Vinod and Chef K. N. Vinod. Moderating this session, and serving as the Culinary Challenge Event Chair, is Chef Kevin Tien of Moon Rabbit.
While the actual formal presentation of dishes by each culinary team to a panel of judges is closed to the public, it will be livestreamed on-site. Each culinary team presents its dish to the panel of judges who taste the dish and then ask the team questions. The competition is fierce and each team prepares for weeks leading up to this event. Students must use approved ingredients and adhere to strict U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional and cost guidelines in creating their recipe and providing their dish for judging.
“The Culinary Challenge is the only event in the D.C. region that gives students a platform to influence and change what is served in their school cafeterias,” explained Bonnie Moore, executive director of Real Food for Kids. “We strive to improve food and nutrition security to school children by increasing access to healthy food in schools. The Culinary Challenge helps us shine a light on this need, with students showing us how it can be done,” she added. The organization was started more than 15 years ago when some parents in Fairfax County expressed concern over the health and nutrition of the food their children were eating at school.
With the Culinary Challenge, students have been able to add healthier and more appealing options to some of the school menus in the area. “The students’ use of spices and other ingredients have been extremely impressive,” said Ype Von Hengst, executive chef and co-founder of Silver Diner. Von Hengst serves as a student mentor for the teams competing. He makes himself available throughout the competition and pre-competition when the teams are finalizing their recipes, and he has helped in making recommendations for recipe tweaks. “The sophistication of the recipes has also been impressive.”
This year’s panel of judges includes Executive Chef of Perry’s, Masoka Morishita; Founder/Restaurateur of the Eastern Point Collective, Hollis Wells Silverman, (La Collina, The Duck and The Peach, The Wells, Meli); Restaurateur Rock Harper (Queen Mother’s Kitchen, Hill Prince); Forrest Gonia, chef de partie, Moon Rabbit and former two-time Culinary Challenge student team competitor; Samantha Reilly, director, Contract Meals and Nutrition, D.C. Central Kitchen; General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C. Oliver Lau; Kitchen of Purpose CEO Brian MacNair; and Bee Thorp, farm to school specialist, Virginia Department of Education, Food and Nutrition Services.
For more information, go to www.realfoodforkids.org.”