Hospital chefs take home top prize at AHF culinary competition

Chefs from healthcare operations across the country recently competed in the Association for Healthcare Foodservice’s (AHF) 2021 culinary competition, where team members from OSU Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, claimed the top prize.

Winners David Brue, Derrick Claprood and Amy Patton, created their dish, Blackened Red Fish with Crispy Brown Rice Cake, from a market basket of ingredients.

Dishes presented by the participants had to follow specific rules around cost and nutrition, and be viable within their respective healthcare operations. The five competing teams also had to utilize a mystery ingredient, prickly pear.

Chefs from RWJ Hospital New Brunswick in New Jersey received second place for their entry, while the team from UNC REX Healthcare in Raleigh, N.C., was given third.

“The chef talent in our industry is levels above what it used to be,” AHF President Ryan Conklin said in a statement, “and this event most certainly highlights the aspect that healthcare and senior dining facilities across the nation have taken huge strides to provide a true restaurant style experience.”

The competition took place during AHF’s annual conference, held last month in Dallas.