(10/13/22) DALLAS — Three young chefs from Winn Parish brought home the Reserve Grand Champion award in the National Food Challenge contest at the Texas State Fair in Dallas on Oct. 4.

Claire Zak, LSU AgCenter Food and Fitness Board administrator and coordinator of the Louisiana 4-H Healthy Living program, said this is a major accomplishment because it is the first year for Louisiana 4-H to enter the competition.

“Initially, we were a little hesitant to enroll in the competition because we weren’t sure of the interest level,” she said. “We were hoping to get nine teams to compete in the state contest, but we ended up with 39 teams and 150 kids.”

The Louisiana team included Lauren Poole, Chloe Whisonant and Gracelyn Chevallier, all seniors at Winnfield Senior High School. They won with their Fruit De La Champion dish, consisting of couscous, pears, apples, a Dijon mustard vinagerette and mushrooms.

The Grand Champion award went to the Scurry County, Texas, team with their mushroom caps dish.

“For the national competition, the students are given a secret ingredient (mushrooms for Louisiana) and Clover Cash to buy items from the pantry,” she said. “Then they have 40 minutes to create and prepare a dish.”

Once the dish is prepared, each member must give a five-minute speech detailing how the dish was prepared, what’s in it and how it fits into the USDA MyPlate recommendations.

Karen Shirley, LSU AgCenter 4-H agent for Winn Parish, said the objectives of the contest are to develop and demonstrate cooking skills, decision making skills, stress management, critical thinking and public speaking skills.

“We also want them to learn to use sound nutritional knowledge when planning meals,” she said. “It also provides a competitive group cooking experience for 4-H members in grades four through 12.”

There were three divisions for the state teams: Division One is fourth through sixth grade, Division Two is seventh through eighth grade and Division Three contestants are from ninth through 12th grade.

Zak said at first, she was a bit concerned about the fourth graders competing, but it didn’t take long to realize that they were up for the challenge.

“We found that this was not new to some of these younger students, as they have to cook at home sometimes,” Zak said.

The winners from Louisiana each received a nice cutting board and a banner as second place prizes, Shirley said.

Louisiana’s Food Challenge contestants, from left, Lauren Poole, Chloe Whisonant and Gracelyn Chevallier, all seniors at Winnfield Senior High School won Reserve Grand Champion honors at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas on Oct. 4. Photo by Karen Shirley/LSU AgCenter

Louisiana’s Food Challenge contestants won Reserve Grand Champion honors at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas on Oct. 4. Lauren Poole, Chloe Whisonant and Gracelyn Chevallier, all seniors at Winnfield Senior High School shown here preparing their dish. Photo by Karen Shirley/LSU AgCenter

Louisiana’s Food Challenge team won Reserve Grand Champion honors at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas on Oct. 4. The team members and their coaches are, from left, Barbra Poole, 4-H volunteer; Shannan Chevallier, assistant coach; contestants Lauren Poole, Chloe Whisonant and Gracelyn Chevallier; Karen Shirley, 4-H agent and coach; and Claire Zak, 4-H state specialist. Photo provided by Karen Shirley/LSU AgCenter