Tasty Experiments: Brave Chef competition kicks off

03/06/2014 1:49 PM

Hospitality students will spend the next month perfecting recipes for Brave Chef, the Hospitality Leadership-sponsored competition modeled after Food Network’s popular “Iron Chef America.”

Teams will submit recipes for appetizers, main dishes and desserts, with a mystery ingredient to be included. A Facebook vote in coming weeks will determine a field of four teams to participate in the April 6 culinary competition.

Teams will be competing for a prize.

Interested chefs attended a cooking demonstration in March with Karl Wolak, Aramark’s executive chef on campus. The night showed participants a range of skills needed for the competition.

“We want to provide students with an exciting opportunity to get creative with cooking,” said Hannah Koci ’15, president of Hospitality Leadership student organization Fresh Slice. “It has been a great learning opportunity for the student leaders involved in the planning process of Brave Chef. It’s wonderful to see students excited about getting involved.”

Dr. Kara Wolfe, CC Wheeler Endowed Professor, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, said the event introduces students to possible careers in hospitality and allows them to work side-by-side with professionals like Wolak.

The hospitality program, offered through the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, prepares graduates for careers in event planning, food service, hotel and lodging management and recreation and tourism professions.

“Our goal is to raise awareness of and respect for the hospitality industry,” Wolfe said. “There are a lot of good jobs out there and we just want people to know what hospitality entails. The Brave Chef competition provides great hands-on experience for the Hospitality Leadership students to practice planning and executing an event.”