The finalists from the regional cook-off’s held on March 27 and April 5 will face off at the final’s competition on April 25th at the Child Nutrition Culinary Classroom in Augusta. RSU 54 and Lewiston Public Schools were the top teams from the regional competitions.
RSU 54 cooked up an impressive oatmeal crepe served with berry compote and a strawberry carrot smoothie to wash it down for the breakfast meal.
Lewiston Public Schools wowed the judges with their chicken and carrot enchilada entrée for lunch, served with a side of spicy carrot and jicama slaw. Oats and carrots were the challenge ingredients for the breakfast and lunch meals, respectively, and teams were tasked to incorporate these ingredients creatively in their meals.
Best of luck to these teams as they compete for the “2023 Farm to School Cook-off State Champion” award!
The competition is set up so that each team, consisting of one student and one school nutrition employee, is tasked to prepare a breakfast and lunch meal using specific recipe guidelines and time restrictions, and will present to a panel of judges. At least three local ingredients and one USDA food must be used in each meal. Local rolled oats donated by Maine Grains and local carrots donated by Emery Farm will be used as “challenge” ingredients in the competition. All recipes will later be shared in a Maine farm to school cookbook to be used in future school meals programs.
For questions about the Farm-to-School Cook-off, contact Maine DOE Child Nutrition Supervisor, Stephanie Stambach at stephanie.stambach@maine.gov. For more information on Maine’s Farm and Sea to School program, visit the Maine Department of Education’s Website.