A favorite meal for Allison Calderon, a Little Fort Elementary School fourth grader in Waukegan, is a fried totra sandwich. She enjoys it to such an extent she asked her mother how to make it.
Spending time in the kitchen with her mother, Allison said she learned how to blend the ham, lettuce, torta and more together until she was able to do it herself well enough to enter the 15th-annual Sodexo Future Chefs contest.
“I like them so much,” she said. “She taught me to use a little salt, and how to put the ham and lettuce on the (torta) bread. We fry it until it’s ready. It’s so good.”
Allison’s family fried torta recipe took first place before a four-judge panel in the Future Chef contest for Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 elementary school students Saturday at the Brookside campus of Waukegan High School, sending the dish on to a regional event.
Donna Kay, a Sodexo manager, said Allison’s fried torta will now be judged based on its recipe and a video of her preparing it in a regional competition between schools in Illinois and Wisconsin. The top regional recipes will compete on the national level.
“I’m going to learn more from my mother and do more cooking,” Allison said, holding her trophy after the awards were presented. “I’m going to learn to make enchiladas and tacos.”
Ervey Sanchez, a John S. Clark Elementary School fourth grader, took second place earning a silver medal with his cheeseburger. Though many of the entries were family recipes passed along over several generations, his effort was personal and original.
“A burger is my favorite food of all time,” Ervey said. “After eating them at restaurants, I decided to make them myself,” he added, as he pointed to the relishes on the plate. “My mom and my dad got me interested in doing it myself.”
Along with the traditional cheeseburger and relish, Ervey said he adds his homemade sauce. He declined to give the ingredients or explain how he makes it.
“It’s my secret,” he said.
Natalie Richter, the general manager for Sodexo — District 60’s food provider — said though the Future Chefs program is 15 years old, this is the first time it is being done in Waukegan. Sodexo is in its second year of handling the local cafeteria program.
Richter said participants this year prepared a main course. It was open to all third, fourth and fifth graders in the district’s 15 elementary schools. Participants started by sending a recipe to the company — 20 were submitted — and 10 were selected for Saturday’s cookoff. Seven chefs turned out.
Preparing their dish with the help of a Sodexo chef in the school’s kitchen, Richter said the meals were scored by a four-judge panel on a 33-point scale over seven categories, including originality, ease of preparation, healthy attributes, child-friendliness, taste, appearance and presentation.
“The kids loved it, and so did their families who watched,” Richter said. “First-place gets gold, second-place silver and everyone else gets bronze.”
One of the judges was Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor. She said she was not sure what to expect from the youngsters. Between family recipes originating in Latin America and Ervey’s hamburger, she was impressed.
“I was blown away by the taste and the presentation,” she said. “This teaches them life skills.”
Kresteen Buritia learned from her parents how to make Hawaiian pizza with some flavoring from her native Colombia.
“This is tropical,” Kresteen said. “We sweetened it with flavors from Colombia.”
Three of the participants — Joanne Rodriguez-Bravo, Yamileta Diaz and Emanual Martinez — prepared dishes they learned from their grandmothers who came to Waukegan from Mexico. Evelyn Windham got her own ideas for a chicken dish from her mother.
Nick Alatzakis, the district’s communications and also a judge, said this was the first time such an event was done. It gave the students yet another opportunity to display skills in a family setting.
“It was a great way for students to show their talent and their family recipes,” Alatzakis said. “We hope to see it grow in the future. It was nice to see the kids working with the Sodexo chefs.”
