Culinary students from around the world visited the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts in Chicago to prepare locally inspired dishes from their native countries in a global cooking competition in last January. Teams from schools in seven countries and the Laureate International Universities Culinary Network joined Kendall College in this two-day competition.Steve Jilleba, CMC, CCE, AAC, corporate executive chef for Unilever Foodsolutions North America and manager of ACF Culinary Team USA, led the panel of judges. A competition veteran, Jilleba has garnered dozens of awards, including a handful from the American Culinary Federation and an impressive nine gold medals from various International “Culinary Olympics” competitions. The panel of judges also included Stephen J. Miller, CMC, vice president and chief operating officer for Midway Airport Concessionaires and a World Association of Chefs (WACS)-approved judge; Leo Waldmeier, retired executive chef of The Drake Hotel in Chicago; and Carlos Gaytan, executive chef/owner of Mexique in Chicago.
Less than one-and-a-half points separated first and third place. The winning team was Valeria Coto and Marcela Ramirez from Universidad del Valle de Mexico, who returned home with The Laureate Culinary Cup and gold medals. Their dishes included a Tarasca soup with shrimp and a main course of duck with a traditional manchamanteles, which is a typical mole from Oaxaca and Puebla in Mexico. The Kendall College team of Alison Honiotes and Adam Harralson came in second with their entries that included an appetizer featuring a trio of raw oysters and a pheasant-saltimbocca main course. Third place went to the team of Mohamad Irshied and Khaled Haddad from the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in Jordan.
“Kendall College is proud to have hosted this first-ever competition for culinary students worldwide,” said Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, dean of the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts and vice president of the Laureate International Universities Centers of Excellence in Culinary Arts. “This lively competition gave us the opportunity to celebrate our dynamic network of culinary programs and highlighted diverse cuisines and indigenous foods from around the world.”
“This competition was particularly unique,” said lead judge Chef Steve Jilleba. “The winning team should be so proud of their accomplishment because it’s especially challenging for them to cook in a country different from their own using different equipment with which they may not be as familiar.”