Teen Chefs Compete to Develop K-12 Lunch Meals

Elementary school meal ideas developed by teenaged would-be chefs were showcased at an event sponsored by Toledo (OH) Hospital, reports the Toledo Blade. The winners of the Lunch 101: Food for Thought college scholarship competition not only received money to fund their future education but got their creations onto Toledo school menus.

The 10 finalist teams showcased their creations before a panel of judges that included Rey Debroas, foodservice director for Toledo Public Schools. As part of the competition, the teams not only prepared dishes for the judges to sample but provided two weeks of suggested school lunch menus that incorporated products from local suppliers while fitting into a $3-a-meal budget. The judges were so impressed with the quality of the competitive field that they decided to award prize money to the second and third place team members, not just to first place as originally intended.

The top winners got $5,000 scholarships apiece while second received $2,500 and third $1,000. Among the winning dishes was a design-your-own taco salad with ground turkey, baked chips and low-fat cheese and sour cream. It will be piloted on one elementary school menu along with other winning dishes before being rolled out district-wide.