Student Chefs Cook Up Healthy Lunches

Young cooks challenged to produce nutritious tasty meals for 10,000

19 May 2010

Known as the Renegade Lunch Lady, Chef Ann Cooper arranged the student chef competition.

The popular TV cooking competition, Iron Chef, often features world-renowned chefs who use expensive and exotic ingredients to create a one-of-a-kind meal for diners with discriminating taste.

At a recent Iron Chef contest in Colorado, the chefs were not famous, at least not yet. Their ingredients fit a low-cost budget and, instead of being one-of-a-kind, their recipes had to serve at least 10,000 hungry children and teens.

That's because the student cooks were taking part in the Iron Chef School Lunchroom competition.

Mouth-watering options

In the large Monarch High School kitchen in Louisville, Colorado, cooking teams from a half dozen high schools stirred fragrant soups and chopped bright green garnishes of cilantro and mint. Some squeezed lemon juice on slices of jicama, a crispy, sweet, edible root from Mexico.

The teens, who are studying catering, were competing in the Boulder Valley School District's Iron Chef Contest for a coveted honor: The winning team's recipes would be on next year's official school lunch menu, which serves over 10,000 students every day.

VOA - S. SchlenderOne student team made an Aztec soup, which is like a tortilla chicken soup.