Cold Lake’s amateur chefs left everything on the cutting board as they reimagined farmers’ market products.
The city’s first Shop and Chop Raw Foods Cooking Contest, hosted by the Cold Lake Ag Society, encouraged residents to find their love of cooking, while putting a spotlight on locally grown produce and homemade baked goods.
This year's Shop and Chop contestants gave it all they've got.
“That’s the best part of this whole contest, is using things that are right here in our backyard, which is the farmers’ market,” expressed Lindsay Toth, cooking contest judge and ag society board member. “Having a contest like this really showcases the market and, hopefully, seeing what people can make with items primarily from our market will encourage others to do the same.”
On Thursday, Aug. 15, seven teams of chefs sharpened their knives to see who could create the best raw food dish. Competing solo or in pairs, participants were given 15 minutes to shop at the vendors using “market money.” In addition to their market purchases, they were allowed to bring two items from the grocery store and given access to a “pantry” for products such as seasonings.
Divided into two heats, contestants raced against the clock to get their dishes plated before the time ran out.
“I was just blown away by the creativity. There’s a lot of thought that went into all of the categories: creativity, taste, and presentation. Each dish had its own strengths and weaknesses,” said Toth.
Once the forks and knives were down, and the scores were added, it was the mother-daughter duo of Sherry and Dana Campbell who had the tastiest dish of the competition with their sweet and savoury salsa pairing.
“We just thought about the things that would most likely be at a farmers’ market,” explained Dana, 13. “We had a fruit salsa, which was several berries and lemon juice, and then we had an original salsa, which had beans in it.”
Excited to have the award-winning recipe, Dana said they didn’t hesitate to jump on-board as competitors as soon as they heard about Shop and Chop.
“I love making food and watching the cooking shows. It was really fun.”
Mom, Sherry, added, “I love that she likes to cook, just like me, so it was really special. We just moved back here not too long ago so it was really exciting to look forward to doing this with Dana as we settle back in.”
A full spectrum of dishes were dreamed up from the food available at the farmers’ market, from smoothies and salsas to doughnut tower creations.
“We made a salad with eggs, feta cheese, lettuce, cucumber, and micro greens. Then we made a vinaigrette, which was olive oil, vinegar, minced garlic, salt and pepper, and parsley,” said 16-year-old Kennedy Bouchard, who, along with her teammate, 13-year-old David Hayter, came in second place.
Bouchard noted their inspiration came straight from the garden.
“We were in the garden harvesting and we were thinking we still hadn’t come up with an idea. We were like ‘oh, we can make a salad, there’s lots of vegetables.’”
The Shop and Chop Cooking Contest was held in conjunction with Alberta Local Food Week, a province-wide initiative aimed at promoting food and products produced in your own community.
“For our first one I think it went well. There were lots of different ideas and lots of different dishes were made,” said Sandi Evans, member of the ag society board and the cooking contest organizing team. “We just really want to bring more awareness of buying local. It’s prime season right now to get local food.”
With their first cooking contest in the bag, both Toth and Evans agreed it’s an event they hope to bring back in the future.
