Boulder Valley Middle School Iron Chef Competition
Centennial Middle School sixth grader Luna Futral, right, adds curried broccoli to plates while classmate Jayne Williams stirs a pot of dahl on Wednesday. Middle school students competed to cook the winning dish during Boulder Valley’s annual Iron Chef competition at the district’s Culinary Center in Boulder. The winning dish will be included on the school lunch menu next year. (Amy Bounds/Staff Writer)
Boulder Valley middle school students turned to adventurous recipes like curry, paella, and dahl as they battled to get their dishes on the school district’s lunch menu.
The challenge for Wednesday’s annual “Iron Chef” competition at the school district’s Culinary Center was to create a tasty, healthy dish with an “Around the World” theme.
Boulder Valley uses the annual cooking challenge to generate lunch ideas from students and share the district’s healthy school food philosophy. Wednesday’s competition also included samples of future menu items, including a chocolate pudding made with avocado and a vegan pesto pasta, that the district is developing to increase dairy-free and gluten-free options.
Students districtwide will have the option to eat the winning dish, red lentil dahl with curried broccoli, at lunch during the next school year.
“We wanted to push ourselves and have fun,” said Centennial Middle sixth grader Luna Futral, who cooked the dahl with classmate Jayne Williams. “Dahl is something my family makes. It’s vegetarian. It’s budget-friendly. It’s really easy to make, and it’s something everyone can enjoy.”
For the challenge, teams must create a dish that’s delicious, kid-friendly, meets USDA nutritional guidelines, doesn’t cost more than $2 a plate, and is easy to replicate and cook in large quantities. Entrees were judged by Boulder Valley food service managers and three guest judges.
Guest judge Garren Teich, a former Denver restaurant chef who now works as a production manager for a liquid nitrogen ice cream business, said he worries high grocery prices and stressed families mean the current generation of kids isn’t as likely to learn to cook — making Boulder Valley’s focus on healthy, kid-friendly recipes “really important.”
