On Wednesday, April 13, six Greenville High School second year culinary arts students competed in the NTCC Culinary Arts Competition in Pittsburg, Tex.  The Students competed in two Categories; the Food Fight competition, which consisted of three distinct parts, and the Edible Book competition. GHS culinary students performed exceptionally well, bringing home first place in the Food Fight competition as well as winning awards in separate categories.

Culinary arts students who competed in the NTCC Culinary Arts Competition were Alex Beck, Edgar Gamez, Perla Mendoza, Jotselin Monarrez, Javier Ruiz III, and Levi Vargas. Their Breakfast "Southwest Eggs Benedict" impressed the judges “who couldn’t stop talking about their dish even after the competition results were announced,” said Culinary Arts teacher, Chef Lucas Kiowski.  In addition to their first place overall win in the Food Fight competition, the students received first place in the Knife Skills portion, second place in the Trivia portion, and first place in the Food Preparation/Presentation portion.

The Food Fight Culinary Competition included three parts including Safety and Sanitation Trivia, Knife Skills, and Food Preparation and Presentation. The competitors were tasked with creating a breakfast dish that must meet specific criteria, set forth by the judges. Students were scored on each individual part on a scale from one to 10 for a potential maximum of 30 points for the competition.

The second competition was the Edible Book Competition, where students were tasked to use their imaginations to create edible food art that is themed from any book. The book, or a color copy of the book’s cover, must be presented at the time of the event. Each entry could take any shape or form as long as the components are edible and it signifies the theme of the book. For this event, there were four possible awards: People’s Choice, Best Cake-Based Entry, Best Non-Cake-Based Entry, and Most Creative.

“I am so proud of these students who have worked very hard at preparing themselves to succeed,” said Kiowski.

The Culinary Arts program at Greenville High School is a thriving part of the STEM initiatives of Greenville ISD. For more information about the culinary programs at GHS, contact Chef Lucas Kiowski at kiowskil@greenvilleisd.com or 903.453.3711.