Young Master Chef, County of San Diego, California

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

On May 30, 2014, in support of San Diego County’s Live Well San Diego initiative, the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) - Child Welfare Services (CWS) held a “Young Master Chef” competition involving sixteen (16) youth from the County’s seventeen (17) contracted group homes. The turnout was impressive considering the unpredictability of this population. The competition was comprised of multiple components aimed at motivating aspiring young chefs to demonstrate their culinary talents in the areas of meal planning, food preparation, and cuisine plating. The young chefs had to produce a healthy “kid-friendly” entrée with lowered sodium, fat, and calorie levels, or dessert with less sugar and reduced calories per serving. Each youth presented their entrée or dessert to the panel of judges while describing the ingredients, calorie count and healthy benefits of their favorite dish. The youth were excited to show off their culinary talents with the hope of being crowned the Young Master Chef 2014. The young chefs were very creative with their healthy recipes and the judges acknowledged their talents and encouraged them to continue to explore a healthy lifestyle. While all entrants received verbal recognition for their creativity from the judges, each contestant received a gift basket filled with sports equipment and gift cards to extend their healthy food choices into a daily routine of physical activity. There were four (4) grand prize winners that received popular electronics. There was an overall celebratory ambiance surrounding the event. Many of these youth probably have not experienced the ‘thrill of victory’ as all too often they are faced with the ‘agony of defeat’. Young Master Chef offered each participant the opportunity to be a winner! These young “cheftants” demonstrated their commitment to Live Well San Diego with their commitment to building better health through nutritious “kid-friendly” food.