RCA Announces Student Culinology® Competition Winners at Annual Luncheon in Phoenix

For Immediate Release                                              Contact:  Ericka Henderson (678) 303-2991

RCA Announces Student Culinology® Competition Winners
at Annual Luncheon in Phoenix

Johnson & Wales - Providence Takes First Place

ATLANTA (April 21, 2010)— 

During the 2010 RCA Conference and Culinology® Expo, six finalist teams from Clemson University, Johnson & Wales University – Providence, Kansas State University, Mississippi State University, University of Cincinnati and University of Guelph gathered in Phoenix to compete for first place in the fourth annual Research Chefs Association (RCA) Student Culinology® Competition.

The RCA announced the winners of its Student Culinology Competition on March 20 at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix Hotel, during the RCA Annual Luncheon.   The competition, supported by Competition Star Sponsors National Starch Food Innovation, Millennium Foods and N.K. Hurst Company and Competition Ingredient Sponsors David Michael & Co. and SupHerb Farms, is designed to challenge and recognize the industry's young talent in the Culinology field – the blending of culinary arts and food science.

An enthusiastic student team from Johnson & Wales University – Providence took first place honors, along with a $5,000 cash award and industry-wide recognition as rising stars in food product development.  Their award was presented by Agnes Jones, principal culinologist at National Starch Food Innovation, at the luncheon, where nearly 500 food product development professionals gather each year to celebrate industry achievements. 

The winning team from JWU was led by faculty advisor Lynn Tripp, Assoc. Professor, and team leader Daniel Marciani. Team members included and Sarah Gouse, Joo Sang (Jenna) Jeong, and Eric Minnich. In 2008, Johnson & Wales took first place in the competition and placed second last year.

“For the Johnson & Wales University RCA team, this competition was no walk in the park.  The team easily spent a couple of hours a night developing and refining the entree and proposal.  When I take into consideration all of the time and effort that the team put forth to get to this point, it is extremely rewarding, to say the least, that this all paid off.  This competition has helped Jenna, Sara, Eric, and me develop fundamental skills such as bench top testing, experimentation, networking, and most importantly team work.  As the team leader I would like to say that you are only as good as those that are working with you. Each team member brought something to the table. The education given by the Johnson & Wales University Culinary Nutrition department and guidance from staff members, notably professor Lynn Tripp and chef Russ Zito, provided the foundation this team needed be successful.” said team leader Daniel Marciani.

Their winning entry was a gourmet meal entitled The Southwestern Black & Blue.  The meal consisted of a blue corn tortilla stuffed with a black bean and quinoa filling, accompanied by chipotle roasted potatoes and southwestern succotash, paired with a roasted red pepper and chimi churri sauce.

A student team from the University of Cincinnati placed second, and the University of Guelph placed third. 

The competing teams each developed a frozen, restaurant quality gourmet vegetarian meal for one for a fictional retail grocery channel, which included both the gold standard recipes and the corresponding product formulations.  The meal had to be inspired by Southwestern cuisine.  One week prior to the competition, each team shipped their pre-portioned, frozen meal items to the event location. On-site at the live competition in Phoenix, teams prepared their fresh, gold standard menu items.

In a Culinology Match Test, competition judges compared each team’s reheated and plated frozen items against their corresponding freshly prepared items on the day of the event. The competition focused on various Culinology elements, such as flavor, aroma, texture, ingredient composition, presentation, and authenticity, among many other components.

RCA congratulates all student teams for their participation and healthy competitive spirit in this successful annual event.  For more information about the Student Culinology Competition or RCA’s Annual Conference and Culinology Expo, please visit www.culinology.org. 

More information and photos are available upon request by contacting Ericka Henderson at ehenderson@kellencompany.com.  

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Founded in 1996, the RCA has rapidly grown to approximately 2,000 members, including chefs, food scientists, technologists, writers, nutritionists, academicians, researchers, consultants, sales and marketing professionals, suppliers, co-packers, distributors and students.  RCA is the premier source of culinary and technical information for the food industry and is committed to the advancement of Culinology® –the blending of the culinary arts and food science.