By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Students from Bucyrus Elementary put their culinary skills to the test Wednesday afternoon, as they battled against each other in the Sodexo Future Chef competition.
In its seventh year at Bucyrus Elementary, the Future Chef event featured a different twist from previous years. Bucyrus City Schools Food Service Manager Lorie Pennington spoke about what else was different for this year’s Future Chef competition.
“This year we are doing healthy comfort food, so whatever the kids thought is comfort food to them they need to try to make it healthy,” Pennington said. “We have a variety of things this year, so instead of salads or sandwiches, we have a variety.”
Beginning at 5 p.m. Jane Stover, Rainy Holmes, Kyle Pifer, and Alory Meade took to the kitchen at the Bucyrus High School to prepare tasty snack concoctions with hopes of winning the prize package as well as a chance to move on to the regionals.
As Stover prepared power bars, Holmes was busy working on potato soup, and Meade made egg and toast cups, it was Pifer’s stuffed mushrooms that won over judges Tami Baumberger and Becky Guinther.
Pifer explained where he got the idea for stuffed mushrooms.
“I came up with it because I like mushrooms, and I like turkey sausage, and meat is my favorite thing to eat, and my dad helped me come up with them, so I made stuffed mushrooms,” Pifer said.
With close scores, certain foods such as mushrooms, eggs, and potato received bonus points in judging.