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Food bank hosts cook-off

Food bank hosts cook-off

Tensions and temperatures were on the rise recently at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. Local chefs scrambled to the finish in a cook off to showcase common but rarely utilized ingredients.

Peter Daugherty, chef at The James in The Holiday Inn, and Mike Ditchfield, culinary professor at Pennsylvania College of Technology — leaders of the two teams — scrambled over each other in a dash to flash their skills to the judges.

Abigail Eschbach said the teams were pulled from partner agencies such as the Transitional Living Center, Penn College and Lycoming College.

“It’s all stuff that we have a lot of that our partner agencies might not know what to do with. So this is giving them new ideas and recipes,” Eschbach said.

When the food bank isn’t able to get enough produce from local markets, Eschbach said they reach out to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Cooperative — an organization in Philadelphia which buys unpurchased food from various markets in the region for reduced cost.

“We have people there who negotiate prices for us and we’ll take seconds or all kinds of great produce that maybe they can’t sell, and it supplements our program,” she said.

As such, the food bank often has a surplus of specific items such as watermelon, beans, eggplant and chicken thighs and tenderloins.

A few dishes Daugherty and Ditchfield used to feature these ingredients were sauteed eggplant, garlic soup, pasta con sarde with grilled eggplant, grilled watermelon steak, Asian-inspired grilled chicken, and stewed beans with horseradish drizzle.

The judges, who graded the dishes, were Jim Lundy, volunteer in his fourth year of service at the food bank; Jennifer Wilson, CEO of First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania; local author Alivia Tagliaferri, owner of Tag’s Foods.

A fourth judge, Nancy Shires, with HOPE, was chosen from the audience.

The Chopped competition was a fun and creative way to get people excited about cooking, Tagliaferri said.

“I think it just goes to show how food is a binding agent to create great experiences for people,” she added.

In the end, the blue team — led by Ditchfield — won the competition, and were adorned in the gold of champions.

But Shires said both teams worked hard and delivered satisfying meals.

“I think they both did an excellent job, I don’t think either one of them could claim to be the winner because they’re all winners,” she said.

Besides Ditchfield, members of the blue team were Ron Taylor, with Diamond Street Christian Church; Karla Sexton, with River Valley Health and Dental; Narcisa Ebner and Syreeta Brown, clients of Hope Inc.

Besides Daugherty, members of the red team were Frank Pellegrino, food bank board member; Tahir Hall, Diamond Street Christian Church; Laura Kittle, food bank Northern Tier Advisory Committee; and Allison Lax, Lycoming College student.

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