Howard County 4-H members Adelene Westfall, Alex Trombley and Sarah Lamb placed 5th in the National 4-H Food Challenge Competition held early this week at the Texas State Fair. Fourteen teams representing nine states competed in the day long challenge. Like the popular tv show, “Chopped”, teams were given a secret ingredient to create a dish utilizing pantry items. Teams were assigned a section of MyPlate and were given a spending allowance to purchase additional items at the pantry. According to Jean Ince, County Extension Agent-Staff Chair, “The group had no prior knowledge of the category or “secret” ingredient they would be preparing until the time of the contest.”
In round one, the Howard County team, who called themselves “Seniors with Spatulas” was given whole grain pasta and $4.00 to spend. The group worked as a team to create a vegetable pasta dish within the 40-minute time limit. The group also had to develop a 5-minute presentation stating what they made, the nutritional value of the dish, how many people it served, food safety procedures taken and what substitutions they would make to increase the overall healthiness of the dish. Only six teams advanced to the final round.
The Arkansas team (Howard County) advanced to the final round where the secret ingredient was sirloin steak. “In this round they given $5.00 to spend at the pantry. The group prepared a pepper steak stir fry. Again, they had 40 minutes to develop the recipe and prepare their presentation” according to Ince.
This was the first year Arkansas has participated in the National 4-H Food Challenge and the first year to have a statewide contest. Howard County team won the state contest in August
and the opportunity to represent Arkansas. Ince stated, “This group has worked very hard practicing for both contests. I am super proud of them.” Locally, the program was funded by a Healthy Habits grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation.
