There is a local food bank that provides food to low income people. They also provide information and classes on how to prepare inexpensive, nutritious and tasty food.  They offer a six week class, and each week the participants learn a bit about nutrition facts, cooking techniques and they practice making a recipe.   For this final meeting the participants were surprised to learn that they were going to have a competition; and that I would be a judge (based on my love of eating, and the fact that I was available ;-).

At this event, which was held at a school, the participants were randomly assigned to a team.   First up they had to press a buzzer and correctly answer a nutrition question.  Sorry the picture is so fuzzy:-p

The prize for each question was that they got to select a food item to use in their dishes.   The categories were protein, fruits, vegetables and dairy.   The secret ingredients that all teams had to use were: cauliflower, baby cucumbers and  canned Mandarin oranges.

Then it was off to the races, make a meal using the secret ingredients, their choices and using the spices and extras available in just one hour.

Everyone produced something that was at the very least, edible ( I did eat a lot of cauliflower salads) and at best, quite delicious.   I forgot to take a picture of the first dish, it wasn’t very pretty (but it was tasty).  There was great teamwork and a lot of laughter and joy in the cooking.   Everyone was named best in some category, and the participants got a chef’s knife and cookbook.   Us judges had fun trying things, and I even learned a new recipe (fruit salad made with Greek yogurt and cinnamon).