High school culinary champions from seven states competed for top honors

FRANKFORT (May 15, 2024) - Kentucky’s top junior chef team came in second at the seventh annual Southeast Region Junior Chef Competition last week in Nashville. The competition featured state champions from seven states in the region. Kentucky’s team, out of Bath County High School, reached the region level after winning the Kentucky state championship last year. North Carolina’s Junior Chef team came in first at the regional competition.

“Junior Chef is an excellent way to teach young chefs cooking skills, teamwork, and appreciation for fresh, nutritious local foods,” Commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Shell said. “Congratulations to Bath County for its regional win. Junior Chef continues its tradition of bringing out the best in our young cooks.”

Bath County’s Wildcat Catering Crew team, consisting of Blaine Wilson and Dalten Lee, prepared its Wilsons Frittata and salsa for the competition. The dish is the same one that won them the state championship in August 2023 at the Kentucky state fair.

The Southeast Region Junior Chef competition was hosted for the first time outside of Kentucky at the Randy Rayburn School of Culinary Arts on the Nashville State Community College Southeast Campus. The competition, featuring high school students, pits the champions of states in the southeastern United States in a cook off to demonstrate their culinary arts skills and uses local agricultural food products. The competition featured teams from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

As part of a longstanding partnership of the Junior Chef program, Sullivan University offers scholarship awards to the winning chefs. As overall winners, each North Carolina team member received a $10,000 scholarship from Sullivan University. Kentucky team members received an $8,000 scholarship. Team members on the third-place team, out of South Carolina, were awarded $5,000 scholarships. The Southeast Region Junior Chef Competition was hosted by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Sullivan University, and No Kid Hungry.

In Kentucky, Junior Chef is a statewide high school culinary competition founded by the KDA in 2013. The competition teaches valuable skills in recipe development, food preparation, marketing, public presentation, organization, teamwork, and community involvement. At the same time, participating students learn about the importance of agriculture and the economic impact that purchasing local foods can have on communities.

Kentucky’s next Junior Chef season is underway. District teams will compete for the state Junior Chef championship at the Kentucky State Fair in August in Louisville.

For more information about the Kentucky Junior Chef Program, go to kyagr.com/junior-chef.