More than 100 Georgia 4-H’ers from across the state participated in the Georgia 4-H Food Showcase on Nov. 9 at Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, Ga.
The showcase, part of the Georgia 4-H Healthy Living Program, is a competition that focuses on the basics of healthy living, nutrition, food safety and preparation. Each contest provides a creative and specific list of objectives that develop leadership skills, proficient and efficient communication, nutritional knowledge for meal planning, food preparation skills and the opportunity for 4-H’ers to compete in an exciting and relevant event.
“The Georgia 4-H Food Showcase is an opportunity for youth to display the skills that they have spent a long time practicing,” said Courtney Brown, a University of Georgia Cooperative Extension specialist assigned to 4-H and youth programs. “The food preparation and presentation skills that the youth develop as they prepare for Food Showcase enhance their home-cooking experience and nutrition knowledge which may also help them move towards a career in family and consumer science, nutrition or culinary arts.”
The Georgia 4-H Food Showcase includes four contests. The Food Challenge contest includes both Junior (sixth-eighth grade) and Senior (ninth-12th grade) team competitions. This portion of the contest challenges 4-H’ers to create a dish using only a predetermined set of ingredients and winners are judged on preparation and presentation.
Chicken Barbecue and Turkey Barbecue contests are individual Senior events. The Egg Preparation Demonstration contest is an individual event for Juniors and Seniors. Combined skills in an oral presentation, cooking and sensory evaluation structures how the winners are placed in the Chicken and Turkey Barbecue contests. Egg Preparation challenges participants to factor appearance, subject matter and creativity when presenting an egg-based dis
The senior state winner from each contest will receive Georgia Master 4-H’er status and be honored at Georgia State 4-H Congress in July in Atlanta, Ga.
This year’s winners of the 2019 Georgia 4-H Food Showcase are:
Food Challenge:
Senior First Place Team: Dianah Anderson, Tandria Burke and Christiana Smith – Dougherty County
Senior Second Place Team: Israel Farrow, Laura Harriss and Quadriyah Williams – Cobb County
Senior Third Place Team: Alyssa Goldman, Kaylie Goldman, Tiger Rupers and Parker Varnadoe – Madison County
Junior First Place Team: Savannah Keller, Alvaro Mena, Jackson Sims and Shaniya Smith – Chatham County
Junior Second Place Team: Chloe Boatright, Susan Carter and Rachel Hughes - Appling County
Junior Third Place Team: Spencer Lawrence, Aliya McCoy, Tisey Powell and Faith Ann Rogers – Emanuel County
Chicken Barbecue:
First Place: Kaylee Collins – Spalding County
Second Place: Isabella Elwood – Morgan County
Third Place: Jonathan Woolf – Liberty County
Turkey Barbecue:
First Place: Gabriel Whitlock – Spalding County
Second Place: Jaden Randall – Bryan County
Third Place: Evelyn Day – Houston County
Egg Preparation:
Senior First Place: Amare Woods – Tift County
Senior Second Place: Lily Thomas – Putnam County
Senior Third Place: Veronica Lee – Bleckley County
Junior First Place: Leala Hutchens – Bleckley County
Junior Second Place: Clair Knapp – Spalding County
Junior Third Place: Maggie Powell – Bleckley County
The 2019 Georgia 4-H Food Showcase is made possible by the following generous sponsors: Food Challenge: Georgia Grown and Rhea Bentley; Chicken Barbecue: Mr. and Mrs. Ken Jones, Sam Massey and Abit Massey; Turkey Barbecue: Mr. and Mrs. Ed Graham; Egg Preparation: Georgia 4-H Clover Café.
Georgia 4-H empowers youth to become true leaders by developing necessary life skills, positive relationships and community awareness. As the largest youth leadership organization in the state, 4-H reaches more than 175,000 people annually through the UGA Extension offices and 4-H facilities. For more information, visit georgia4h.org or contact your UGA Extension office at 1-800-ASK-UGA1.