Kids Culinary Convention Sacramento ‘07

Permission to play with your food! 

Bread Class Instructor Chef Michael Wahl, California Culinary Academy San Francisco  M. Lacey photo 

Top: CCA Bread Class instructor Michael Wahl; bottom l-r: Food Stylist Irene Bertolucci; Julie makes pasta; Sushi Team Competitors  M. Lacey photos

The first ever event of its kind in the nation, the Jr. Chef Culinary Convention's workshops and presentations covered a variety of culinary topics delivered with the depth and style more than 400 young people had come to expect from our Jr. Chef Cooking program.  It was held on Saturday, October 20 '07, at Antioch Progressive Life Center in Sacramento, California. Read more from the Sacramento Bee Newspaper! http://www.sacbee.com/taste/story/449207.html

Congratulations to our Kids Culinary Competition winners:

The Grill Team!

From this just weeks before, to this....

(l-r) Apples, the myster ingredient...prep...finishing a dish...M. Lacey photos

And This....

Bacon wrapped Apple & Bagel Stuffed Grilled Chicken Breast (b. abucayan photo)

 .....to this....

(l-r) Chef Shawn Menard, Jr. Chef's Salim & Clare, Judge Gwen Schoen, Jr. Chef Leah, Judge Lee Perkins, Jr. Chef Kayla, Judge Laura McIntosh

Mentored by Chef Shawn Menard of Chops Grill, Kayla, Clare, Leah & Salim each won a 6-piece Chef's knife set courtesy of Wusthof! M. Lacey photo

and this! 

An appearance on Good Day Sacramento! B. Abucayan photos

Small Groups & Big Fun!  Participants were assigned to a group of their peers according to age, with no more than 25 per group.   They stayed with their group for the entire convention, but had the opportunity to meet other kids during lunch and the reception!  To view the full day's schedule, click here. 

(l-r) Chef Richard Pannell's Knife Safety Class; Making new friends; Pre-instruction in the Sushi Class M. Lacey Photos

Designed with both returning and new ‘Jr. Chef’s’ in mind, the day-long convention offered ‘Hand’s on’ cooking sessions taught by top chefs including decorating Desserts and Pasta from Scratch, Sushi and Bread making, and Grilling.  

   Instructor Renae Best, Farm 2 Table

Culinary industry professionals conducted sessions on the importance of eating locally and in season, prepare a nutritionally sound meal, and dining etiquette - among many others.    For class descriptions, click here. 

Buck August, Nutritionist      

All photos M. Lacey 

 Dining Etiquette Class w/Instructor Haze Dennis         

During the Convention, 5 teams of Jr. Chef’s competed in our Standards of Excellence Iron Chef-style Culinary Kids Competition. Each team of 4 was led by one of Sacramento's leading chefs as they created and cooked their way through 3 dishes featuring our mystery ingredient of 'apples', which were unveiled during the Convention opening.

Chefs include (l-r)Chefs Ginger Elizabeth, Shawn Menard, Tyrone Hunt, Stuart Edgcombe, Billy Ngo, Bruno Caccia

Our Chef instructors and mentors included Executive Chef Stuart Edgcombe, Esquire Grill; Executive Chef & Co-Owner Tyrone Hunt, plan b cafe; Executive Chef Shawn Menard, Chops; Ginger Elizabeth, Owner Couture Chocolates; Executive Chef & Owner Buu 'Billy' Ngo, Kru Restaurant; Chef Bruno Caccio, The Kitchen Academy; Chris McKone, Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op; Pastry Chef Liliette Freeman, Rick's Dessert Diner; W. Haze Dennis, Department Chair Hospitality Mangement, Santa Clara's Mission College; San Francisco's California Culinary Academy Le Cordon Bleu program instructors; National Food Stylist Irene Bertolucci and more!

Meet our instructors - Desserts, Pasta, Bread,  Grilling, Sushi 

We also welcomed a team of instructors from the California Culinary Academy!  

Meet our Standards Of Excellence Culinary CompetitionTeams!  Our 5 teams consisted of both Advance Jr. Chef's (AJC) and those who had completed the Basic (BJC) one week program.  They were enthusiastic, excited and ready to show the convention attendees what they could do.  All were working under a professional Chef/Mentor and each team created three distinctly different dishes featuring the mystery ingredient, supplied by the Sacramento County Farm Bureau. One dish from each team was selected as their 'best', and then one of the 5 'best' dishes was awarded 'Best in Show'.  Our judges included Sacramento Bee food writer Gwen Schoen, and V101FM radio personality Lee Perkins, and 'Bringing it Home' television show host Laura McIntosh. Meet our Competition Chef Mentors here!. To meet our teams, click here. 

(l-r) Pre-Competition; Judges Laura McIntosh, Gwen Schoen and Lee Perkins.

Our Culinary Competition was sponsored by:

A Fun Filled Afternoon from 3-4.45pm!

After culinary sessions and cooking classes, participants got a chance to see what our Culinary Competition Teams created during our late afternoon Awards Presentation hosted by Tina Macuha from Good Day Sacramento/Channel 31.   They'll also had the opportunity to sample all the dishes created at a buffet reception.  And...prizes, lots of prizes, were awarded to attendees throughout the afternoon.  Meet our afternoon dream team here! 

We thank all our sponsors for their support including the following

Raleys Family of Fine Foods