Last Saturday marked the end of another fun filled Jr Iron Chef competition, where middle and high schools from around the state submit teams to compete in a giant cook-off.

The competition, held at the Champlain Valley Expo, grew out of a desire to raise awareness about the complexity of school food systems while highlighting local agriculture, emphasizing healthy eating, and promoting the culinary arts.

Jr Iron Chef also allows students the opportunity to analyze how school meal programs operate and develop creative solutions for complex problems that programs face, while partnering with local chefs and farmers, food service professionals and teachers.

The competition was a product of a collaboration between Farm 2 School, the Burlington School Food Project and Vermont Food Education Every Day (Vermont FEED). VT FEED works with schools and communities to raise awareness about healthy food and the roll Vermont farms can play in their schools.

The Abbey Group is very committed to working alongside Vermont FEED in their efforts as we share common goals in the school food service industry. That’s why last Saturday The Abbey Group was well represented through team sponsorships for schools in which we operate, student education, and Abbey Group school team leaders.

We are proud of all that participated, we hope that they learned some valuable insight into food supply systems, healthy eating habits, the culinary arts and had a great time doing it!

If you think this is something you would like to do in your school, make sure to let your Abbey Site Manager know, we’d love to do this with you!