There’s a lot of culinary talent in school districts around the country, as these student-created dishes prove. From fish tacos to chickpea curry and apple pie, these five recipes came out on top in K-12 cooking competitions.
Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Creamiest Vegan Chickpea Curry
Teams of students from across Wisconsin participate in the annual Whipping Up Wellness culinary competition sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The team from New Glarus High School entered this recipe for plant-based curry, and when it was chosen, they cooked it up at a statewide competition and won.
Braylynn F., a student at Beachwood Elementary School in Washington state, won first place in Sodexo’s Future Chef Contest. She first created the Cajun pasta for the competition and the dish has since been added to the school lunch menu.
Fish Tacos with Purple Cabbage Slaw and Pink Sauce
Arizona nonprofit the Blue Watermelon Project holds a student culinary contest every year. Maylie Mickelston of Casteel H.S. was crowned the 2022 winner for her fish taco recipe, which is now served at the high school.
For its statewide cooking contest, the Maine Department of Education requires that student recipes use at least three Maine ingredients. Sixth-grader Alain Lemesse of Lewiston combined local beets with corn and black beans and won the competition with this colorful Southwestern-spiced salad.
Each recipe entered in the Arkansas Department of Agriculture's contest had to feature a fall ingredient grown in the state. Adeleigh Gebert and Sasha Kotyankar chose Arkansas's black apples and baked the fruit into an award-winning apple pie.
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