by Venice Buhain
Knives and pots and pans were put to the test Sunday morning at South Puget Sound Community College, as culinary high school students from throughout the state participated in the 2009 Boyd Coffee ProStart Invitational.
ProStart is a two-year culinary curriculum that the Washington Restaurant Association sponsors in about 50 high schools throughout the state, said Camille St. Onge, director of communications of the Olympia-based association. The ProStart program was developed by the National Restaurant Association, she said.
Each participant in the competition received a $2,000 scholarship to culinary school. Winners go to the national invitational and become eligible for scholarships from various culinary schools nationwide.
Two events
Nearly 300 high school students participated in the culinary event or the restaurant- management event. The culinary event involved cooking a starter dish, an entree and a dessert, and demonstrating the abilities of cleaning and sanitizing a workspace and cutting vegetables like a professional. The restaurant-management event involved a quiz about management vocabulary and concepts and coming up with a solution in a scenario a restaurant might face.
Lead judge Gene Fritz said that the food would be judged primarily on taste and presentation, and also on proper techniques. Judges roamed the floor to watch teams as they took an hour to prepare two portions of each dish, which ensures consistency.
Fritz said that how the food looks and tastes is the biggest part of the culinary portion of the contest.
“That’s the way a customer would evaluate it in the industry,” he said.
The teams were responsible for all of their own ingredients, utensils and burners for the competition.
George Kraft, a senior at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, said that being prepared was key.
“If you undercook it or if you screw up, you have to start all over,” Kraft said. His team, and other teams interviewed at SPSCC on Sunday, said they made their meals many times over the course of several months.
Jackie Robinson, a senior at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, said that preparing for the contest was fun, but participation was nerve-wracking.
“We forgot to bring a strainer, so we had to find other things for straining,” she said.
However, Robinson said that taking the culinary classes has given her some ideas for her college major. She plans to attend Washington State University.
“Now I’m thinking of culinary for college, or maybe food science,” she said.
The winner of the management portion of the competition was Liberty High School of the Issaquah School District. The winner of the culinary competition was not decided by Sunday evening because Moses Lake High School and Oak Harbor High School were in a tie-breaking contest, consisting of answering a series of questions.
Venice Buhain covers education for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5445 or vbuhain@theolympian.com.
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March 10th, 2009 | 
