Top 10 Highlights of Jr Iron Chef VT 2016

Posted on April 24, 2016

They chopped, they sautéed, they served and they certainly sizzled. On March 19 more than 240 competitors and 1,600 spectators crowded into the Champlain Valley Exposition for the culinary event of the year: the Jr Iron Chef VT competition. You may know that Jr Iron Chef is a great way to build culinary skills, teamwork and a taste for healthy, local foods, but the program does so much more. Here are ten cool things you might not know about Jr Iron Chef VT 2016…

  1. Next stop: State House! On April 15th, four randomly selected teams—the Food Fighters, the Green Mountain Cheftains, The Jakesfromstatefarm, and the Sizzling Saints—were honored at the Vermont Statehouse where they witnessed the reading of the 2016 Jr Iron Chef VT Resolution in the chamber, went  on a tour, and served their award-winning recipes in a taste test to legislators during lunch. 
     
  2. Lights, Camera, Cook! Morning TV news shows featured two teams that won the Crowd Pleaser Award. The CVU Chefhawks 1 team was on WCAX and the Action Ready team from Essex Middle School was on FOX44/ABC22
  3. Local Heroes. Most teams use local ingredients in their recipes, aspiring to win the coveted Lively Local Award. It doesn’t get any more local than products made or grown by the teams themselves, which is a growing trend. This year, theFairfield Totter Trotters and the Ninja Pumpkin Hippo Thigh High Flyers used maple syrup that they boiled from their school’s trees. 
     
  4. Celebrity Judges. James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Molly Stevens and Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship star Peggy Fischer joined an esteemed panel of judges that included chefs, farmers, child nutrition professionals, food writers, students, educators, legislators, and news anchors. 
  5. Congressional Kudos. United States Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is a great champion of Farm to School programs, kids health, and local foods. And he showed it when he stopped by to visit and hand out award certificates during the morning heat award ceremony. 
  6. JV JIC. Many teams start practicing in September! Jr Iron Chef VT has become so popular that some schools, like Twin Valley Middle/High School, Sharon Elementary School, and South Burlington High School have more teams than they can send to the state event. So they hold cook-offs to weed out their JV teams from the varsity and select their statewide competitors.
     
  7. Side Show Smoothies. If you come to observe the JIC competition, it doesn’t mean you get to sit it out. The activity room was bustling with activity all day as competitors and spectators alike visited the photo booth, shared comments on Jr Iron Chef VT inspiration wall, rode a smoothie bike, and made butter! 
  8. Feeling the Bern. Like much of the country, Jr Iron Chef VT is feeling the Bern! The two Milton High School teams gave a nod to Senator Bernie Sanders, naming their teams After Bern and Feel the Bern. Feel the Bern entered their Bleu Bernie Stromboli in the competition. 
  9. Super Sponsors. It takes a lot to put on an event of this scale – and to have the impact we do on kids, schools and communities. We couldn’t do it without the generous backing of more than 25 sponsors, who give supplies, funding, cooking gear and a whole lot of support. Check them out and show them some love.
     
  10. Top Ten! This year marked the 9th annual event. Next year, Jr Iron Chef VT turns 10! Stay tuned for bigger and better fun than ever before!