Welcome to the Second Annual Aramark Rhode Island Culinary Competition! We are glad you are here. At Aramark, we believe that recognizing and fostering talent begins at a young age. And we are so proud of each of this year's finalists. They have impressed us in the early stage competitions with their skills, creativity, and enthusiasm for their craft.
Today's challenge will require all those skills and more as they face a market basket of ingredients and are required to prepare a school lunch meal that meets all the National School Lunch Program guidelines. Each team has received a preliminary list of ingredients that will be available to them today but what they don't know until they walk out on that stage is that there are a few 'surprise ingredients' for the taking!
And while it's not required that they use these ingredients and therefore not as difficult as the famed Food Network Chopped kitchen, our judges today will be looking to see just how nimble these teams are. Are they daring enough to pick up a few ingredients they hadn't thought about using and incorporate them into their dish? Will they choose to 'think on their feet' as no doubt will be necessary in the real culinary world?
We'll see! And so, once again thank you for your attendance and for your support of these up and coming culinary stars!
Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!
-The Rhode Island Aramark K12 Education Team
Read about this event in The Chariho Times