Peanut butter and avocado, almond butter and agave syrup, turkey and apple sauce. When elementary schoolchildren are let loose in the kitchen, they get creative.
Ten students from the York County School Division competed Thursday in the Sodexo Future Chefs competition, which pitted the third- through fifth-graders against each other over the best healthy sandwich creation.
As a food service provider, Sodexo is new to the county’s public schools this school year. Michelle Knotts, YCSD food service director through Sodexo, said the student culinary contest is just one of many exciting promotions the company has planned to extend its work outside the kitchen and into the community.
In January, Knotts invited students in third, fourth and fifth grades from across the district to submit a healthy sandwich recipe. She and a small team had the grueling job of narrowing down the list to one from each of the 10 elementary schools.
Some submissions got as adventurous as using shrimp and lobster in their dishes. Once the pile of recipes was reduced, Sodexo provided the necessary supplies and readied the kitchen for a shorter set of cooks than typical.
The finalists arrived last week at York High School, where they donned tiny chef’s hats and gloves and dove into the cooking challenge. With professional kitchen staff as their assistants, the budding gastronomists had just over an hour to prepare three iterations of their chosen sandwich: a complete product for display, small portions for each of the five judges and bites for the family and friends who joined later in the evening to see the winner announced.
YCSD superintendent Eric Williams served as one of judges, said the competition reflects the educational approach the county wishes to use in other subject areas.
“Whether you’re learning about healthy eating or learning about science, it’s important to give students the opportunity to create products for an audience other than teachers,” he said.
The other judges were Chief Operations Officer Carl James, Coordinator of Community & Public Relations Katherine Goff, school board chairman Mark Medford and local businessman Ed Anderson, who is a franchise owner of four Wendy’s restaurants.
Anderson appreciates children having the chance to compete with one another, which he said is a valuable learning tool for the rest of their lives. For those who might not excel at sports, the kitchen is just as important an arena.
For Knotts, it is imperative healthy eating habits are instill at this young age. She said children’s feelings about eating healthy – or not – will only deepen as they grow older.
The ingredients in the finalists’ creations include a wide range of fruits and vegetables, hummus and lean protein.
Mitchell Turner set out to find an alternative to the traditional, sugary peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The third-grader said he is fructose-intolerant, so he substituted almond butter and blue agave syrup for the standard ingredients. Bananas – a low-fructose fruit – completed his “A, B, A, B Wrap.”
Turner was the only male student competing last week, Knotts said.
“It’s a thing of the past where executive chefs are all male,” she said.
In addition to learning basic cooking skills, Knotts said culinary education promotes more family time. Amid busy schedules of soccer practice and music lessons, children have the opportunity to share the cooking experience with mom, dad or grandma in the kitchen.
Georgia Gottfredson from Grafton Bethel Elementary, who artfully crafted a fruit pizza, enjoys making bread with her mother at home. Taleen Timari of Coventry Elementary used her mother’s recipe for hummus and vegetable wrap. Himagowri Prasad from Seaford Elementary was inspired by her mother’s “veggienut” sandwich, one she used to help make before taking it on by herself.
Prasad’s sandwich – which combines cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, avocado and peanut butter on a bagel – took home the grand prize. The judges graded on originality, healthy attributes, easy preparation, kid-friendliness, taste and plate presentation. Prasad claimed a large basket full of cooking tools and materials in addition to the certificate, chef’s outfit and kid-friendly cookbook that went home with all finalists.
The fourth-grader also enjoyed the process leading up the big competition day, and was always ready to sample her ingredients.
“When I was practicing I hate half the avocados,” Prasad said.
Prasad will advance to a regional completion, where she will compete against other local champions. If she is successful there, she will advance to a national round, from which five semifinalists are selected to prepare YouTube videos and compete in a public voting process in late April and early May.
Click here to see Prasad’s winning recipe.
Julia Shrieves, a third-grade student at Waller Mill Elementary, came in second place for her “apple jack turkey sandwich,” and Alicia Santos – in fifth grade student at Dare Elementary – came in third for her “tootie-fruity waffle sandwich.”
YCSD Excels at Regional Science Fair
More than 80 York County School Division students competed March 15 in the 63rd annual Tidewater Science and Engineering Fair at Old Dominion University. At the event, middle and high school students presented their scientific research to industry professionals from across the region.
Katherine Webb of Tabb High School won the First Place Overall Grand Prize for her math project “A New Statistical Measure of Effect Size: Rate Adjusted Standard Mean Difference.” She earned an all-expense paid trip to Los Angeles for the International Science and Engineering Fair in May.
Noora Abdel-Fattach, another Tabb High School student, won the First Award of Excellence for her behavioral science work.
Many other students were awarded first prize in their category or received an honorable mention – see the full list of honorees here.
