Future Chefs Schools’ competition features the future of culinary excellence

While cooking is an important skill for anyone and everyone, it’s also an art form and an important part of every culture. Here in Dublin, students get to hone their cooking craft – and are being recognized for standout abilities.

Sodexo is a large-scale hospitality company that oversees curating and preparing the lunches for many schools, including those in the Dublin City School District.

Emilia Martin is a registered dietitian and operations manager at the Dublin City Schools and an employee of Sodexo. Her roles include creating the lunch and breakfast menus at the schools along with providing educational resources to students on diet and cooking skills. Martin prides herself on the opportunity to educate the youth.

This past March, Martin spearheaded the district’s participation in Sodexo’s National Future Chefs Challenge. Competing students provide a recipe with pictures for the chance to cook or bake their recipe at an in-person competition.

Twenty-six fifth-graders from Dublin Schools entered, and six were selected for an in-person competition at Dublin Scioto High School. Students were paired with a member of the kitchen crew at their respective school and given a workspace and chef’s hat to complete their recipe.

Then, the young chefs presented their dishes to a panel of judges.

Entrants were judged based on taste, originality, kid friendliness, healthy attributes, presentation and how closely the recipe fit this year’s theme. This year, students were asked to provide a side dish featuring a fruit or vegetable of their choice.

“The judges had a really awesome time,” Martin says. “I think all the parents were re- ally excited. It definitely let their kids broaden their experience with cooking and dive into that passion of theirs. I think it helped a lot of them gain a little bit of confidence.”

The event drew in a fairly large crowd of people who wanted to see some of the best young chefs in the area. A stir fry presentation was provided for those in attendance while the contestants prepared their dishes for judging. Kids in the audience were invited to come up and help prepare the stir fry recipe.

Competing fifth-grade chef Avery Vogel’s recipe, cheesy broccoli stuff, took home the crown. The recipe is a family favorite, passed down to Avery from her great-grandmother.

“My inspiration was, well, it was my great grandmother’s recipe, so … that helped a little bit,” Avery says. “And I just like cheese and broccoli together.”

Avery is passionate about cooking, and frequently prepares meals for her family.

“I cook a lot of main meals like chick en,” Avery says. “I cook, like, every night at home.”

“For me, it’s cool, I was formerly the only chef in our family. All the cooking fell to me before Avery started helping,” her father, Brooks Vogel, says. “As a parent (cooking) is a great life skill to have, but to be able to spend time in the kitchen with her trying different recipes, it’s been fun.”

With Avery’s win came some great prizes including new pots and pans for her kitchen. She was also nominated for a regional cooking competition where her recipe will be sent to another round of judges with a chance to take home a regional title.

And while it’s exciting to win and progress further into the competition, it’s all about having fun and honing skills in the kitchen.

“I had a lot of fun,” Avery says. “I was so nervous that I only said two words when I presented my dish.”

With the success of this year’s competition, Martin seeks to make it an annual event with the potential of expanding the contest to more than just fifth-graders.

“To know that students are engaged in cooking at such a young age and really care about what they are putting in their bodies is really awesome,” Martin says. “I hope that other students and kids growing up can try to experiment in the kitchen to get more involved with it so that they’ve created a foundation for healthy habits.”

Aaron Gilliam is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com

Dublin

by Tyler Kirkendall Photos courtesy of Karen Fahy