Maine Department of Education hosts final round of its farm-to-school cooking competition

The Maine Department of Education hosted the final challenge of its Farm-to-School Cook Off Competition this week, WABI 5 reports.

Three teams, each made up of a student and a school nutrition professional, competed against one other at the Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Culinary Classroom in Augusta to create two dishes, one breakfast and one lunch, to present to the judges.

Along with meeting National School Lunch Program nutrition requirements, the dishes had to use at least three ingredients that were grown, raised, caught or manufactured in the state.

The aim of the competition was to get students interested in cooking and using local foods.

Recipes from each of the teams will be compiled into a recipe book for Maine districts to use in their nutrition programs.