SFCC Culinary Arts Program Hosts Sixth Annual International Cuisine Student Competition

From Santa Fe Community College press materials...

Students from the Santa Fe Community College Culinary Arts Program’s International Cuisine class will put the finishing touches on their class by competing against each other in a student cooking competition. Four student-chef teams will work with surprise ingredients revealed to them upon opening a basket that they’ve selected. They’ll have to rely on skill, speed and the knowledge they’ve gained from the course to prepare a four-course meal consisting of a soup, starter, entrée and dessert. The four featured cuisines this year are Africa, Spain, South East Asia and the Middle East.

Chef-judges Matt Yohalem from Il Piatto, Tom Kerpon from Tanti Lucci 221, James Campbell Caruso from La Boca and La Taberna, Jerry Dakan from SFCC’s East Wing Eatery and Anthony Damiano from SFCC and Sup.

Thursday, October 25

• 1:30 p.m.: Student-chefs open their baskets and begin to plan, prepare and complete the four-course meal by 4:30 p.m.
• 2 p.m.: The public is invited to watch the competition and taste the results
• 4:30 p.m.: Judging begins

SFCC’s Culinary Arts’ Lab, Room 413, 6401 Richards Ave. in Santa Fe

Besides bragging rights, the student teams will vie for prizes donated by Mission Linen, Nobel Sysco, Chef Linc and the Santa Fe School of Cooking.

“This event is a nice send-off to our students,” said Michelle Roetzer, SFCC’s Culinary Arts lead Instructor. “Many of them will conclude their culinary training with this class. By this time they have washed a lot of dishes and chopped a lot of vegetables. To simply end the class somehow seemed like not enough, so I started this competition six years ago to provide a nice send-off to those who are done.”