UMass Team Wins ACF Gold Medal at Chefs Conference

A team of chefs from UMass Amherst Dining Services won a gold medal in the annual Tastes of the World Chef Culinary Conference’s team competition. A dozen other teams from other colleges also won silver and bronze medals. Tastes of the World is an annual American Culinary Federation-sanctioned event that was held June 15 on the UMass campus. It brings together culinarians from around the world of college dining.

The UMass Gold Medal team consisted of (pictured, from l.) Pastry chef Simon Stevenson, Chef Anthony Jung of Berkshire Dining Commons, Chef Shawn Stemp of the University Club and culinarian Taylor Whittemore of Berkshire Dining Commons.The team’s winning four-course meal consisted of pan-fried cod with Meyer lemon parsley vinaigrette, stuffed chicken breast with artichokes, spinach and charred red pepper, morel orzo, glazed beets and sautéed green beans, sautéed pork with apple-Craisin compote and strawberry-stuffed profiteroles.

The teams winning Silver medals were from Cornell University, Harvard University, Skidmore College, the University of Michigan, Villanova University, North Carolina State University/Oregon State University, the University of North Dakota/Salisbury University, the University of British Columbia/Virginia Tech and two separate teams from Penn State University.

Winning Bronze Medals were teams from Cornell University, the Florida Institute of Technology and University of Guelph/SUNY Potsdam.