Attention foodie families! Take the aspiring young chefs in your household out to a one-of-a-kind local challenge where they can see some talented students in the DMV with mad skills in the kitchen and watch an effort to improve the food in local schools at the same time.
Real (Nutritious and Tasty) Food for Kids
Real Food for Kids, a local nonprofit dedicated to advancing nutrition security for children, will hold its 13th Annual Culinary Challenge on Saturday, March 8 in Alexandria, Va. Ten teams will compete from eight regional middle and high schools in Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Montgomery counties. Award-winning chefs and culinary luminaries will serve as judges and mentors.
The competition is intense, and the student teams prepare for weeks. They must use approved ingredients and adhere to strict U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional and cost guidelines when creating their recipes and providing their dishes for judging. 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 will present its dish to the panel of judges who will taste the dish and then ask the team questions.
Giving Students a Say in Cafeteria Food
“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,” explains 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. Real Food for Kids was founded more than 15 years ago when some parents in Fairfax County expressed concern over the 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. “The sophistication of the recipes has also been impressive.”
A Distinguished Line-Up of Local Chef and Restaurateur Judges
This year’s panel of judges includes:
- Masoka Morishita, executive chef of Perry’s
- Hollis Wells Silverman, founder/restaurateur of the Eastern Point Collective (La Collina, The Duck and The Peach, The Wells, Meli)
- Rock Harper, restaurateur (Queen Mother’s Kitchen, Hill Prince)
- Forrest Gonia, chef de partie at Moon Rabbit and former two-time Culinary Challenge student team competitor
- Samantha Reilly, director, Contract Meals and Nutrition, D.C. Central Kitchen
- Oliver Lau, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C.
- Brian MacNair, CEO of Kitchen of Purpose
- Bee Thorp, farm to school specialist, Virginia Department of Education, Food and Nutrition Services
Register Now
The public is invited to attend at no charge, although RFFK asks that attendees preregister.
Where: The event will be at Hayfield Secondary School (7630 Telegraph Rd., Alexandria, Va. 22315.)
When: 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.
Vote for Your Faves: You can vote for your 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.
For more information, go to realfoodforkids.org.
