By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Bucyrus Elementary students participated in the Future Chef Competition Monday evening at Bucyrus High School to see whose cuisine would reign supreme.
In its fourth year, the competition pits finalists from third through fifth grades with the winner moving on to the state level in a national competition by the Sodexo Company. The theme for this competition was sandwiches, and wraps.
The winner of the competition was third grader Madalyn Kimmel with a yogurt chicken salad wrap with cranberries.
Young Ms. Kimmel explained her inspiration for the dish.
“I watch these Kitchen shows on TV, and my brother has done it since he was in the third grade. So I decided that I would do it since he had a really good experience doing it.”
“This year we are doing a sandwich or a wrap. We want to encourage whole wheats and healthy items instead of the usual cheeseburgers,” Bucyrus food service coordinator Lorie Pennington said.
“We had 40 recipes turned in, which were all good. We had a tie at fifth place this year, so we have six participants,” Pennington added.
Runners-up for the competition were fourth grader Kylee Sparks with Kylee’s Grilled Tuna, fifth grader Sam Rager with ABCLT Wrap, fifth grader Karson Kimmel with a southwest chicken wrap, fifth grader Micah Graves with a chicken bacon ranch grilled cheese, and fifth grader Joe Rager with a Mexican lettuce wrap.
Judges for the competition were Matt Fultz who was Future Chef Competition winner in 2011 and 2013, Tami Baumberger who has judged the contest in the past, and Chef Kaleb Duty, who assists Pennington with Sodexo at Wynford.
Prior to judging, Duty gave a cooking demonstration in which he made a chicken teriyaki with a fresh spring mix wrapped in a rice paper roll with ginger sauce.
Duty explained. “This is to get them more comfortable in the kitchen, and rather than opening a bag of chips this gives them a healthier option.”