March 24th, 2018
21st Century Classroom
Junior Iron Chef
By Ella Howe
7th grade student at St. Albans City School
On Saturday, March 17th, the Vermont Jr. Iron Chef event (programmed by VT FEED) took place. Many people, including myself, showed up to the occasion held at the Champlain Valley Exposition Center in Essex. This year, with 13 high school teams and 54 middle school teams, students created a dish that not only was local and healthy, but one that they could see schools making for lunch. The mission of the yearly competition is to encourage this type of food, as well as let kids express their culinary expertise. As being a part of the youth that takes major interest in culinary arts, it’s safe to say that VT FEED accomplished the goal for this event to achieve.
The 2018 edition of VT Jr. Iron Chef kicked off with the 9:30 - 11:00 time frame for the AM Heat (teams arranged in the morning competition), leaving judging after the finish and awards at 11:30 12:00. The PM Heat went from 12:30 - 2:00, with the awards at 3:00. I was a member of St. Albans City School’s team (Raiders) and competed in the afternoon time. We created a burrito made with fillo dough (branded as a Fillito), which is a dish we came up with ourselves!
Although it’s Iron Chef “Jr.”, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t intense! Our team had from 11:30 - 12:15 to prepare our space and get our materials ready. The heat began at 12:30, giving us 1 ½ hours to cook. We managed this time great, since creating the Fillitos took us about 30 minutes, and the time they spent in the oven was around 40 minutes. We definitely had extra time on our hands toward the end, which gave us the perfect opportunity to make the plating look excellent. The most vital part of our presentation aspect was the Lime Aioli, which we zigzagged on the plates before placing down the Fillito.
Important parts of the competition weren’t just things like the food’s look or taste. Other assets like team communication, collaboration, coordination and skill are key ingredients to success in any competition like Jr. Iron Chef! You need to cooperate well with your teammates and easily be able to assure that every member has a job occupying them and helping with the dish’s creation process. Though skill is an obvious and almost over-thought one, it’s very necessary for a good outcome. You should be able to know your teammate’s strengths and weaknesses. We helped each other enhance our strengths as well as encourage each other when or if they hit a weakness.
My experience at the 2018 VT Jr. Iron Chef will always stay in my memory, as I had so much fun and got to further improve the culinary side of myself! Although we didn’t win an award for our Fillito, each member of our team knew very well that we did an excellent job! I was extremely proud of myself after finishing the heat. The judges even gave us a feedback sheet, telling what we could improve and what they loved and admired! St. Albans City School will even be providing our Fillitos as a lunch taste test on April 6th!
Does the thought of a middle/high school culinary competition interest you? Look forward to next year’s VT Jr. Iron Chef event!
Junior Iron Chef
By Ella Howe
7th grade student at St. Albans City School
On Saturday, March 17th, the Vermont Jr. Iron Chef event (programmed by VT FEED) took place. Many people, including myself, showed up to the occasion held at the Champlain Valley Exposition Center in Essex. This year, with 13 high school teams and 54 middle school teams, students created a dish that not only was local and healthy, but one that they could see schools making for lunch. The mission of the yearly competition is to encourage this type of food, as well as let kids express their culinary expertise. As being a part of the youth that takes major interest in culinary arts, it’s safe to say that VT FEED accomplished the goal for this event to achieve.
The 2018 edition of VT Jr. Iron Chef kicked off with the 9:30 - 11:00 time frame for the AM Heat (teams arranged in the morning competition), leaving judging after the finish and awards at 11:30 12:00. The PM Heat went from 12:30 - 2:00, with the awards at 3:00. I was a member of St. Albans City School’s team (Raiders) and competed in the afternoon time. We created a burrito made with fillo dough (branded as a Fillito), which is a dish we came up with ourselves!
Although it’s Iron Chef “Jr.”, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t intense! Our team had from 11:30 - 12:15 to prepare our space and get our materials ready. The heat began at 12:30, giving us 1 ½ hours to cook. We managed this time great, since creating the Fillitos took us about 30 minutes, and the time they spent in the oven was around 40 minutes. We definitely had extra time on our hands toward the end, which gave us the perfect opportunity to make the plating look excellent. The most vital part of our presentation aspect was the Lime Aioli, which we zigzagged on the plates before placing down the Fillito.
Important parts of the competition weren’t just things like the food’s look or taste. Other assets like team communication, collaboration, coordination and skill are key ingredients to success in any competition like Jr. Iron Chef! You need to cooperate well with your teammates and easily be able to assure that every member has a job occupying them and helping with the dish’s creation process. Though skill is an obvious and almost over-thought one, it’s very necessary for a good outcome. You should be able to know your teammate’s strengths and weaknesses. We helped each other enhance our strengths as well as encourage each other when or if they hit a weakness.
My experience at the 2018 VT Jr. Iron Chef will always stay in my memory, as I had so much fun and got to further improve the culinary side of myself! Although we didn’t win an award for our Fillito, each member of our team knew very well that we did an excellent job! I was extremely proud of myself after finishing the heat. The judges even gave us a feedback sheet, telling what we could improve and what they loved and admired! St. Albans City School will even be providing our Fillitos as a lunch taste test on April 6th!
Does the thought of a middle/high school culinary competition interest you? Look forward to next year’s VT Jr. Iron Chef event!