Cooking contest challenges students and chefs to rethink school lunch

Soggy pizza. Extra sloppy sloppy Joe’s. Ketchup as a vegetable. School lunches are often memorialized for their shortcomings, but Valley chefs insist that what goes on students’ trays can be better.

They, and teams of school food professionals and culinary-curious students, will share the food they want to see come out of school cafeterias at Blue Watermelon Project’s Feed the Future competition on Saturday.

Students taking charge

For this weekend’s event, 12 teams of students and food pros from eight Valley school districts have been paired with an all-star roster of Valley chefs including Doug Robson, the chef and owner of Gallo Blanco and Otro Cafe, Tracy Dempsey of Tracy Dempsey Originals and Charleen Badman, the James Beard Award-winning chef and co-owner of Scottsdale farm-to-table restaurant FnB.

“The excitement is always watching those students come up with their recipes,” says Badman, who is also the founder and head of Blue Watermelon Project, which she started in 2016 to increase students’ access to fresh foods.

One of those students is Madison Newman, a senior at Queen Creek High School. She cooked with Badman last year, placing second with a vegetarian sofritas bowl, a spin on the Chipotle-popularized meatless burrito bowls. This year, she’s back for a second helping, cooking a dish that she says reflects her. Newman is a vegetarian and says curry is a dish that’s popular at her house.

“I was really interested in trying to find a way to bring stuff that I’ve had in my home into a competition,” she says.

She plans to cook a vegetarian curry with wheat berries, lemon-roasted cauliflower tossed in cilantro and sour cream and a side of apples and pears dressed in lemon and honey. It’s a dish she’s been working on since last May, and has had help from Badman to refine.

Helping students gain perspective

The Feeding the Future teams, which include students from elementary to high school, have been planning and preparing school snacks and meals that taste good, are nutritious and meet the standards that school cooks must adhere to.

“They get how hard it is for the people working in that lunchroom. They see how realistic it is,” Badman says, noting that students must meet the real-life financial and nutritional requirements of the National School Lunch Program and consider logistical challenges like timing and access to cooking equipment.

High school students will share a full lunch tray, while middle school students will create a breakfast and elementary school students will develop a snack or a side that is focused on fruits or vegetables. An entire tray must all be made for no more than $1.50.

Newman’s meal cost exactly that. After having to research, prepare and cook in her lunchroom’s kitchen, she says she has a deeper respect for the work of the culinary professionals at her school.

“I’ve seen how many people they have to feed on a daily basis. It’s crazy to me that they get 2,000-plus kids fed in an hour,” she says. “They are working very hard.”

Guests and a panel of judges will taste the dishes – winning teams will receive prizes including scholarships for high schoolers for as much as $10,000. Plus, at least four winners will have their dishes made and served at their schools. Last year Newman had that chance.

“It was really interesting to see how people were reacting to a dish I made,” she says.

Newman was already interested in cooking and baking, something she started focusing on more during the pandemic, but the competition has given her a confidence boost. After she graduates, she hopes to attend culinary school and eventually open a bakery.

“I found a love for it,” she says.

Dine out for a cause

Foodies who aren’t able to attend but still want to support the work of Blue Watermelon Project can make a difference when they dine out this month.

The nonprofit has partnered with five local restaurants to share dishes that feature seasonal ingredients for the 2024 School Food Showcase.

At Tracy Dempsey’s Originals in Tempe, order the kale mac and cheese. Persepshen is serving a wood-grilled buffalo cauliflower with fermented buffalo sauce, Point Reyes blue cheese dressing, pickled carrot, shaved celery and chicken-fried chicken skin. Gallo Blanco is offering Pollo Asada, using citrus-marinated Two Wash Ranch chicken. FnB has crafted a carrot dish with wheat berry tabouli, yogurt and whole-lemon vinaigrette. Ms. C’s Home-Style, a catering and private chef service, is cooking a veggie quinoa hash with a tomato-basil sauce.

Through Saturday, proceeds from the dishes support fundraising efforts for the event.

Feeding the Future

Jan. 27
The Farm at South Mountain
6106 S. 32nd St.
Tickets: $100, available on Eventbrite