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Culinary World Showcase Competition

'Culinary World Showcase China"

Calling All Students! Grab a Friend and Sign up to Compete in the Culinary World Showcase (Formerly Known As the Iron Chef). This Is a Student Cooking Competition That Showcases a Vibrant Culture.

School Health Advisory Council (SHAC)  is celebrating the vibrant culture of China!

Teams competing in first through third grades and fourth through sixth grade. 

Sign up your Nixa student team during January 8-17, 2025 (registration is now closed)

Event Date: Saturday March 29, 2025, from 9 a.m. to noon

Location: Nixa Junior High Commons

Theme: China

About the Competition

SHAC has evolved into the Iron Chef competition to now become the Culinary World Showcase cooking competition. Each year the competition will celebrate and showcase a vibrant culture to explore, with this year’s cultural theme being China!

The goal of the competition is to inspire students to explore, appreciate, and learn about global food cultures; acquire valuable lifetime culinary skills, encourage fun cooking with friends & family and develop new ways to enjoy healthful flavor.

Teams are NO longer required to design their table with decorations (as that will NO longer be judging criteria); however, they can decorate if they choose to do so.  

Competition Rules

China is the showcase world region for 2025, from which teams need to create their original recipe. 

  • As each team researches and learns about Chinese food culture as part of their recipe preparations; each team will write something interesting they learned about the food culture of China on their final submitted recipe form.
  • There are NO secret or specific ingredients that are required to be used.  Teams create whatever Chinese hot or cold style savory dish they want (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) (snack, side dish, appetizer, soup, salad, sandwich, entrée, or any other idea), except for NO desserts or beverages.  This opens the creativity for recipes and makes for a dynamic array of offerings to be judged.
  • Recipes ideally have a healthful appeal.
  • The dish must be easily replicated at home by families, with easy to find and affordable ingredients.
  • Teams can bring longer cooking fully prepared items (like meats, starches, or sauces) they make at home to the live competition, but we ask that the team still does the majority of their recipe preparations at the live event.
  • Teams prepare 1 show plate (not for tasting - only for show so the judges can see what the beauty of a full plating looks like) and 3 small samples for the judges to eat and evaluate.
  • Teams will have 1 hour to prepare their show dish and 3 small samples and have it tasted by the judges.

Team Categories

Grades 1-3: 8 teams

  • Students must attend Nixa Public Schools and be in grades first through third.
  • Minimum of three students per team and maximum of seven.
  • Teams are allowed one adult coach who can assist with chopping and cooking assistance for safety (students should do as much as possible).

Grades 4-6: 8 teams

  • Students must attend Nixa Public Schools and be in grades fourth through sixth.
  • Minimum of three students per team and maximum of seven.
  • Teams are allowed one adult coach who can assist with chopping and cooking assistance for safety (students should do as much as possible).

Registration

Lottery-style team sign-up will be during January 8-17, 2025. There will be a parent meeting on January 28, for teams selected for the competition, to go over competition rules, all details, and answer questions.

Teams will be notified of this meeting date and time by email.

Awards

Each participating student chef will receive a paper chef hat, and apron with the Culinary World Showcase logo, certificate, and medal.

Cultural Showcase Award

  • The team that had the most authentic Chinese ingredients and flavors (or interpretation of authentic by the judges).

Most Creative Award

  • A dish that wows the judges with creativity and a unique approach to the cultural theme.

Best Overall Award

  • A memorable dish with the highest scoring points, that has the best flavor and taste that the judges want to enjoy repeatedly.