Beaufort kids took over the kitchen in a ‘Future Chef’ competition

The kitchen heated up as fifteen elementary school students from across the Beaufort County School District had the opportunity to test out their cooking skills as finalists in the 2020 Sodexo “Future Chefs” cooking competition. 

These 15 future chefs prepared their own “School Lunch Reimagined” recipes featuring items like bacon mac-n-cheese, kale burgers and vegetarian nachos. Each student had an hour to prepare their dishes much like cooking shows you see on the Food Network. Once completed, students presented their dishes to a panel of judges and were scored on taste, originality, and nutritional value.

“It’s just an opportunity to be creative and have fun – plus,  I just really like tasting things,” said  Ava Keller, 4th Grade chef from Coosa Elementary

This is the 10th year Sodexo has held the competition at the Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence. Each student was paired up with a staff member from Sodexo who helped them create their masterpieces.

Parker Star, a 4th Grader from Okatie Elementary School, is the 2020 winner this year with his healthy zucchini and sweet potato “Harvest Muffins”. He now has a chance to move on to the regional and national Future Chef competitions coming up later this year. 

Great job kids and congratulations Parker! We wish you the very best of luck in your next competition. All of the participants are winners in our “recipe book”!