POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. — The Powhatan School District is challenging students to learn more about nutrition, healthy food choices, and cooking techniques through the Future Chefs National Challenge.
First through fifth-grade students competed in a cooking showdown at Powhatan High School.
The event, sponsored by the county's food services contractor Sodexo, featured the theme "Passport to Flavor: Take your taste buds on a global adventure!"
Young chefs submitted recipes inspired by cultures or countries from around the world. Judges evaluated the dishes based on eight or nine different categories, including flavoring and presentation.
"Each elementary school picks at least two finalists from all the recipes that have been entered," Powhatan Schools food service director Dorothy Kohler said.
Student Addington Stallworth entered the challenge with a creative take on her family's favorite dish, corned beef hash.
"She added a little bit of additional things to it to make it a little bit more creative," Robb Stallworth said. "It has a beautiful little egg on top and it's a little bit crispy, and we've cooked it a few times at home and it's been a real winner."
Stallworth won first place in the competition.
Her winning recipe, along with three other student-created recipes from the contest, will be added to the school menus in a promotional series next school year.
The competition aims to help students advance to the national challenge for a chance to win prizes, while also encouraging them to take cooking classes in high school.
"They see that there is a program when they get in high school like, oh yeah, I know that I worked with that. I saw that in first or fifth grade," Kohler said.
Kohler hopes the students leave the competition with a love for food and a sense of accomplishment.
"First off, I want them to have a lot of fun. Two, that they have this food desire that they're a foodie, that you know, kids obviously love food and they love what they're doing, so I hope they leave with a confidence that they can do almost anything," Kohler said.
"I think it's exciting because it's created this level of confidence inside of her that we haven't necessarily seen as much before," Robb Stallworth said.
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