Elementary Culinary Competition

Announcing the 3rd Annual "Future Chefs" Cooking Competition!

NEW THIS YEAR! For the first time we're giving Middle School Students an opportunity to show us what they have!

-Each middle school student in Eugene will have the opportunity to enter this year's culinary competition. Packets are being sent out to each school, but students can come to this area to download instructions and an entry form here as well. We will select three lucky finalists at each middle school to compete head-to-head in an "Iron Chef" style competition!

This competition will take place on Saturday, March 17, 2012

BACK THIS YEAR: Eugene's grand prize winner chosen at the cook off will compete regionally and nationally against ninety-eight other school districts who are doing the same promotion! The winner's creations of the top level will be featured on Sodexo's national menu cycle!

In case you need to print out some items yourself, here is the packet that's being sent to the buildings:

COMPETITION HALL OF FAME - WINNERS PDF

	2012 ENTRY FORMS AND INFORMATION
	2012 Poster PDF
	2012 Instructions and overview PDF
	2012 RECIPE ENTRY FORM PDF
	IMPORTANT: TIPS on how to be chosen as a building finalist! WORD PDF

Here's a copy of the last two recipe books that were created in our past events

2011 Kid-Friendly Recipe Book: PDF

2010 Kid-Friendly Recipe Book

Press release for our first annual competition:

Forget the Food Network — on Presidents’ Day, these mini-chefs were the cooks to watch!

Thirty-one youthful chefs squared off on February 15 at South Eugene High School, participating in a cooking contest sponsored by the 4J Nutrition Services Department. The 31 contenders had been selected as finalists from among 130 recipes for healthy snacks submitted by fourth- and fifth-grade students across the Eugene School District.

Recipes ranged from simple to sophisticated, but all were sublime — and every one sported healthful ingredients and do-it-yourself, kid-friendly preparation.

Tuna-Stuffed Peppers

A contestant adds dressing to his scrumptious spinach-strawberry salad

The students prepared their culinary specialties in the morning — one perfect specimen for display, and dozens of bite-sized portions for the judges to sample — and presented them to a judging panel beginning at noon. High school students trained in the culinary arts through South Eugene’s South Fork Catering program served as team leaders for the young chefs as they created their concoctions.

Judges considered ease of preparation, healthy ingredients and presentation to determine winners in several categories. Four champion chefs won culinary gift bags packed with fun stuff to take home, along with foodie bragging rights for the year. A fifth prize, kids’ cookbooks for the school library, was presented to the school that created the best table display. All 31 finalists received a framed certificate, a medal, and a cookbook containing all of the finalists' healthy snack recipes.

No Fishin' Around (Vegetarian) Sushi

The elementary culinary competition is the brainchild of Rick Sherman, manager of 4J’s Nutrition Services department, who created the program several years ago when managing food services for the Greater Albany Public School District. Since then the idea has spread to other school districts around the country. Monday’s event was the first such competition held in Eugene, but the district hopes to make it an annual event.

“Our goal is to get students cooking and learning about healthful food choices and good eating habits,” says Sherman. “But mostly we just want to help kids have fun with food!”

Missed the news stories?

Several students were interviewed by TV, radio and newspaper reporters