And the Winners Are…

Zora and Arla prepare their winning A to Z Carnitas while event MC, Kyle Freeman, shares what they are doing with the audience.

By Madie Murray

What a day! From the time our first contestants arrived, set up and presented their amazing dishes, to the anxious and excruciating determination of the winners for both the K-6 and 7-12 groups, the Fourth Annual Student Chef Competition proved again to be an event containing all of the elements: the love of cooking, competing, sportsmanship, sharing, appreciating, and an extraordinary pride for our Island youth.

There were no losers, but it was a competition, and there were students who scored highest and won in their division. The judges’ scores were based on:  Recipe (content, theme, variety, cafeteria appropriate), Presentation (color, serving size, uniqueness, method of preparation), Taste (flavor, garnish, correct preparation, composition), Mise en Place (orderliness while prepping and cooking), and Cleanliness before, during and after preparation.

First place in the K-6 division went to Arla Sutton and Zora Leck who teamed up to make their creative A (for Arla) to Z (for Zora) Carnitas. Arla and Zora won cooking classes with Christina for them and their families, and everyone received several gifts and ribbons.

Caitlyn Holley puts the finishing touches on her delicious home made empenadas for the judges.

Taking top honors this year in the upper grade division was Caitlyn Holley with her beautiful and delicious Empanadas. Caitlyn won dinner for four at Hogstone and a generous Amazon.com gift certificate.

It was no easy task for our five judges who were truly impressed with the high level of professionalism, seriousness and quality of presentation by all the contestants. For both divisions, they took a lot of time making the final decisions. Every student was praised for their accomplishments and recognized again at the Taco Feast immediately following their day of competition.

Our sincere thanks to our sponsors: Roses Bakery Cafe, Mijita’s, Orcas Hotel, Orcas Village Store, Peg Manning and Tim Blanchard, Hogstone and Red Rabbit Farms. Our thanks also to everyone attending the competition to cheer these exceptional kids on, as well as attending the wonderful taco dinner and contributing to the Farm to Cafeteria Program.

A video event made by out student videographer, Alexa Cuthbert, will be out on YouTube soon, and a slide show will be available on the Farm to Cafeteria web site www.orcasislandf2c.org shortly.