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Thirteen-year-old Taylor Patterson loves to cook, even when she’s not in her own kitchen, where licking the bowl and spattering a little over the edge are accepted.
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| Taylor Patterson shows that kids can make healthy snacks for themselves, a feat she demonstrated at the Kitchen Inventions competition at the Hendricks County 4-H fair. Photo credit: Tom Campbell |
Last summer she cooked at the Hendricks County 4-H fair in front of an audience and three judges. Taylor’s task was to make a tasty treat while competing against two other teams. And, like the Food Network’s Rachel Ray, she had to chat about her recipe and prepare it in 30 minutes or less.
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Adams County youngsters Camila Baron (left) and Lukas Schnieders scale a climbing wall as part of Super Kids Dare to Be Healthy, a Purdue Extension-sponsored health and fitness program that combines educational sessions with supervised physical activities. The program is a collaborative effort among Purdue Extension, North Adams Community School Corp. and other community organizations.
Photo credit: Jeff Blue |
Taylor, of Pittsboro, Ind., believed she had a winner in her Tex-Mex chicken wraps, a concoction she made up after surfing the Web for recipes. Her secret ingredient: her dad’s homemade barbecue sauce. As she plated her creation, she hoped it would please the judges’ palates, too.
This competition, where “Iron Chef” meets county fair, was the brainchild of Beth Switzer, a Purdue Extension educator in Hendricks County. Dubbed “Kitchen Inventions,” the contest was not only fun for kids, but also a way for them to learn how to select and make healthy, nutritious foods. Participants had to create a recipe that had high Vitamin A, calcium or fiber content.
“Kids need to take responsibility for their own intake,” says Switzer, a nutrition expert. “This contest was a way to empower young people to make good choices and take an active role in their food selections and consumption.”
Children make many of their own food decisions. Whether it’s skipping breakfast, drinking pop from vending machines, selecting á la carte lunch items at school, purchasing candy on the way home or eating nutritionally empty, calorie-laden after-school snacks, today’s youth have ample opportunities to add to their ampleness.
When the judges’ verdict came in, Taylor and teammate John Stayton finished second in their category. “The judges thought we should have cooked the tortilla more and put the barbecue sauce on the side,” she says.
The winning team of 13-year-old Benjamin Hendricks and his 11-year-old sister Riley, of Brownsburg, Ind., won over the judges with a creation they called “Last Night’s Leftovers.” “It was grilled chicken on a Kaiser roll with a pickle, lettuce and ranch dressing,” Benjamin reveals.
Twenty-seven teams of children between the ages of 10 and 18 competed in the inaugural Kitchen Inventions contest. The fare included smoothies, pasta, salads and sandwiches. The judging team of local restaurateurs was so impressed with the nutritious recipes created by the contestants that some of the winning edibles made it onto menus at local eateries. One teenage participant was even offered a job. “Charbonnos featured our sandwich for a weekend, and, when they made it, it was right on the money,” Benjamin says. “We took our whole family there to eat. We met the cooks, and they clapped for us.”
Thanks to the success of the event, national food companies approached Switzer about sponsoring and expanding the Kitchen Inventions challenge. This summer, the contest will feature an additional category for college students making an entire 30-minute meal. That should give Rachel Ray some competition.
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