Buccaneer Junior Chef 2024
Posted on 05/20/2024
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This May, the Xenia Community Schools Nutrition Services Department launched its first-ever Buccaneer Junior Chef competition at Arrowood Elementary! For the competition, students had to present their dish in person with minimal help, although assistance was provided by Nutrition Services for chopping, dicing, and cooking any hot food.
Student dishes were judged on a variety of criteria, including: Originality, Healthy Attributes, Ease of Preparation, Kid-Friendliness, Taste, and Plate Presentation – with bonus points for using healthy items like legumes, proteins, and fresh fruits in the recipe.
The first place winner was Annie Yates. Her recipe was called My Little Secret Salad, a refreshing summer salad with an unexpected mix of sweet and savory flavors, including blueberries, strawberries, bacon, and chicken.
Annie's winning dish will be featured on the elementary lunch menu next school year. All of the students received culinary prize baskets to inspire them to future culinary creativity. The grand prize basket included a tablet to store all of their favorite recipes.
All participants presented wonderfully creative dishes that were well-received by the judges:
🧑🍳 Savannah Horsley - Buccaneer Grilled Chicken Salad
🧑🍳 Justin Kendrick - Chickpea Salad
🧑🍳 Payton Monohan - Summer Fruit Salad
🧑🍳 Mason Wolfe - Mason's Marvelous Taco Salad
The judges for this year's competition were Chef Angie from One Bistro, XCS Board President Mary Grech, and Superintendent Dr. Gabe Lofton.
Sous chefs from our cafeteria staff who supported each student were Rhonda Clark, Cindy Oldiges, Brenda Sprigg, Shelby Tuck & Krystal Toner.
The Junior Chef Competition will become an annual event held by XCS Student Nutrition Services, rotating among the five elementary buildings.
📷 Mr. Jones and Mr. Stoudt