MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In communities with limited access to food or grocery stores, it can be difficult to create a nutritious meal on a tight budget. Four Arkansas teams tested this skill — and emerged victorious — at the Mid-South 4-H Food Pantry Competition on Saturday, Feb. 26 as part of the 2022 Mid-South Farm and Gin Show.
Held at the Renasant Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee, the competition challenged teams to cook a healthy meal using three mystery ingredients commonly found in food pantries. The recipes they created were then given to food banks and pantries to help clients prepare their own meals.
Arkansas 4-H teams from Howard County, Grant County, and Drew County won the top three spots.
Amanda Welch, 4-H youth development specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and the competition’s coordinator, said the contest helped participants practice cooking skills and benefitted people in need.
“We’re really trying to use foods that are given out to food banks,” Welch said. “We’ve found that even though we’re giving out food to people in need, they’re often not able to actually utilize the food and don’t know how to cook it, or what to prepare with it. This competition also helps the kids come together, make a recipe, go over the food nutrition, the MyPlate food groups, food safety procedures, and work as a team.”
MyPlate is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutrition guide. It breaks down the serving sizes and requirements for each food group.
Welch said the competition combined the Tennessee 4-H Chopped Challenge and the Arkansas 4-H Food Challenge, bringing four teams from each state together. Teams had 45 minutes to prepare their respective dishes and five minutes to present the dishes to a panel of judges. The judges included Jennifer Biggs, food and dining editor for The Daily Memphian; Cathy Pope, president and CEO of Mid-South Food Bank; and Bert Smythe, owner of McEwen’s restaurant in Memphis.
Each team was required to use tortillas, canned chicken and a cup of Greek yogurt in their dishes, which they could supplement with additional ingredients from the competition pantry. Welch said all leftover pantry ingredients were brought back to Arkansas and donated to The Shack, a Little Rock organization that provides meals to people experiencing homelessness.
The first-place team from Howard County, Kylie Casto, Sarah Lamb, Christian Trombley, and Adelene Westfall, created “Diamond Chicken Dip” with tortilla chips. Lamb, Trombley, and Westfall won first place in the Senior Division of the Arkansas 4-H Food Challenge last year. They went on to compete in the 4-H National Food Challenge in September at the Texas State Fair, where they placed fifth.
Welch said she hopes the Mid-South 4-H Food Pantry Competition will become a larger event that helps participants practice for the state-level competition in August.
“Especially because in our state competition, the parents and coaches don’t really get to watch the youth compete when they do their preparation and their presentation,” Welch said. “At Mid-South, they were able to stay in the room the whole time, so they’re better able to help coach over the summer to get them prepared for the state competition.”
Welch said she would also like to see the 4-H Food Pantry Competition grow to include all the states represented at the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show, which includes Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri in addition to Arkansas and Tennessee.
First place winners: Howard County
Kylie Casto, Sarah Lamb, Christian Trombley, Adelene Westfall
Second place winners: Grant County
Klaesy Knoefler, Dylan Rogers, AJ Ruiz, Acacia Searcy
Third place winners: Drew County
Sy Lanthrip, Chloe Russell, Niah Russell.
Would have been nice to have the winning recipes!