Judges

Erica works for Senator Bernie Sanders covering issues including agriculture and nutrition. She was the former director of the Vermont Farm to Plate Network, and prior to that worked at the Center for an Agricultural Economy. Erica co-founded a local food council in 2007 focused on farm to school efforts in the Waterbury area. She has also held a variety of food system jobs including line cook and produce manager. 

Astrid is a former scientist, who left the lab behind for the fun of working with food!  She writes the Mealtime column for KidsVT, and works full time as a crew member at Trader Joe's.  She prides herself on a varied palate, a willingness to taste pretty much anything, and a zest for flavor.  She grew up in South Hero, spent a year of high school with family in Sweden.  Come the warmer weather, you are likely to see her riding around town on her beloved vintage 3-speed bicycle, Penelope.  Her culinary adventures can be found not only in KidsVT, but on her blog, lunchesfitforakid.blogspot.com.  She lives in Colchester with her wonderful husband, Chris, and two kids, ages 10 and 14, and their two demanding cats.

Elizabeth is a 5th grade school teacher at Twin Valley Elementary in Wilmington, Vermont. She prides herself in bettering the community through her involvement in youth sports and academics. With a love and passion for food, Elizabeth greatly values the art of cooking. Elizabeth participated in Jr Iron Chef VT in 2008, where her team was awarded Best in Show for their vegetarian chili. She later participated in 2010 through 2012. In 2011, Elizabeth spent a month in Mexico traveling across the country learning to cook various Mexican dishes with local chefs. During her free time, Elizabeth enjoys exploring Vermont and other places by hiking, running, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. 

Deborah is a culinary enthusiast and entrepreneur whose career has included roles in publishing, communications, education and philanthropy. As the founding and former editor and publisher of Edible Green Mountains, Deborah had the pleasure and privilege of working with talented members of Vermont’s food and artisan community, and sharing their stories. A dedicated cookbook collector and home cook, Deborah is active with the International Association of Culinary Professionals and other non-profit organizations. Deborah received her Health Coach certification from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Her company, Full Circle Communications, provides consulting, coaching and leadership guidance to individuals and organizations eager to achieve their full potential. 

Jerry Greenfield and his long-time friend and business partner, Ben Cohen, are the men behind one of the most talked-about and least conventional success stories in American business.  Co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., Greenfield has helped to build a store front venture into an ice cream and business marvel by making social responsibility and creative management strengths, rather than weaknesses. Greenfield and Cohen have been recognized for fostering their company's commitment to social responsibility by the Council on Economic Priorities and by the U.S. Small Business Administration. They have also received the James Beard Humanitarians of the Year and the Peace Museum’s Community Peacemakers of the Year Awards. Presently, Greenfield’s official title at the company is Co-Founder. He is involved in promoting the social and environmental initiatives that Ben & Jerry’s undertakes.  He is also President of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation.

Eva Sollberger produces editorial and advertising video for Burlington-based Seven Days, Vermont's free, independent weekly newspaper. Her weekly web video series “Stuck in Vermont” — launched in February, 2007 — appears every Thursday on sevendaysvt.com and airs on WCAX-TV, the local CBS affiliate. Shorter subtitled versions of the videos appear on Seven Days’ Facebook and Instagram pages. In the past 10 years, Eva has traveled around the state producing hundreds of videos about artists, events and quirky characters. “Stuck in Vermont” has racked up more than 4 million views online. In 2016, “Stuck in Vermont” videos won three first place awards for video from the New England Newspaper and Press Association, and won Best Video from the New England Society of Newspaper Editors. Eva lives in Burlington with cats and chickens and she loves sampling the local, fresh food that Vermont has to offer.

Andrew prides himself on a career spent dedicating time, effort, and passion to innovation in the hospitality industry. This time includes more than 10 years of culinary education, starting with schooling in his youth and continuing through the completion of a School of Hospitality degree in Denver. In Denver he was named Head Chef of his class. Andrew has extensive restaurant experience, including working with food and beverage brands such as Avenue Lounge, XXIV Karat Wines, The Charmer Sunbelt Group, representing fine wines and spirits, and more. Beginning at 15, he was instrumental in opening restaurants in New York City for BR Guest Hospitality. At the same time, as a sophomore at Vermont Academy, he proudly competed in Jr Iron Chef VT. Spending time between Denver and New York City, Andrew has worked as a menu and mixologist consultant for several restaurants and bars. This includes work with the Proximo Spirits brand which represents Jose Cuervo tequila, Three Olives vodka and The Kraken Black Spiced rum, among other notable spirits. He has also worked in multiple Michelin-rated New York City restaurants as well as led groups for multiple chef’s clubs and events.

Erinn Simon is the Food Program Director at the Burlington Children's Space, where she has spent 8 years cooking healthy meals for 40 kids every day. She writes about her experiences there on her blog The Lunch Lady at bcslunchlady.blogspot.com. She also writes about kids and food for Parent.Co, kidsVT, and has been featured in the Huffington Post. She and her photographer husband make weekly videos of kid-friendly recipes, which you can see at Parent.Co every Friday. 

Jason started in the restaurant equipment industry long before he can remember, as his grandfather started suppling local restaurants and institutions back in the 60’s. His father and uncle brought him into the industry full time when he was in his early 20’s. Now 21 years later is still following in their footsteps, supporting the local industry with sales & service that has been present in our community for 3 generations. We work with all levels of the industry from sales to fully engineered design drawings for our customers.

Mara co-owns and operates 2.5 acre Half Pint Farm with her husband Spencer in Burlington’s Intervale. Mara farms because she loves good food – and started her specialty veggie farm in 2003 to provide Vermont with locally grown niche produce. She loves that farming keeps her grounded, inspired, and eating the best possible food everyday! Mara is board chair of Slow Food Vermont, bringing to this position a passion for food and traditional foodways, enthusiasm for the process of seed to plate and educational event planning. She also continues to maintain her role as Slow Food State Governor, liaising between Slow Food International, Slow Food USA, and Slow Food Vermont. When Mara is not farming, she is: running, experimenting in the kitchen, reading about food, snuggling with her dachshunds, traveling abroad, practicing calligraphy, entertaining, and pining for the growing season.