CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Cpl. Dara C. Smith and Sgt. Austin J. Nelson from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma took first place during the Marine Corps Installations - West, Chef of the Quarter Culinary Competition, Sept. 9-10.
The 22 Area Mess Hall here, hosted the competition with teams from MCAS Yuma, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton’s 43 Area Mess Hall and the 33 Area Mess Hall taking top honors.
Smith, who along with Nelson, shared the title of Chef of the Quarter, had her family on hand to congratulate her during the awards presentation.
“I have been cooking ever since I was a child,” said Smith. “My parents worked late nights and I would cook dinner from them. That’s where my interest for cooking began. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to go to culinary school but it was really expensive. So I joined the Marine Corps to become a chef and expand my opportunities.”
Col. Jeff K. Arruda, chief-of-staff for MCI-West, MCB Camp Pendleton presented the People’s Choice, Chef’s choice, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards to the winning teams.
“Competitions like these are important for our food service Marines because it professionally develops them and increases the quality of food we can provide to Marines on base,” said Arruda.
The MCAS Yuma team was rewarded with priority seats for a two-month course at the Culinary Institute of America and a Certificate of Commendation awarded by Brig. Gen. Edward D. Banta, Commanding General of MCI-West, MCB Camp Pendleton.
The competition started off with twelve teams who were assessed for their culinary knowledge and proficiency through written and verbal quizzes. The top four teams continued to a cook-off stage, where they were given three proteins and fresh ingredients to prepare a high-quality menu.
“We didn’t know what to expect so we just tried to study everything about our job and did our best,” said Smith. “It was challenging to put together the menu, that alone took us four hours to plan. The cooking itself actually went smoothly.”
During the cook-off stage, the teams were assigned celebrity chefs Aaron Williams, Rahm Fama, Dakota Weiss and Penny Davidi from U.S. Foods and The Food Network, who assisted the teams with knowledge and experience.
The chefs were evaluated on kitchen conduct, personal appearance, hygiene and utensil handling skills during the preparatory process. Afterwards, a panel of food service experts judged each team’s dishes based on quality, presentation and nutritional content.
“It’s our responsibility to provide high quality food because it fuels the morale and well-being of our Marines,” said Patrick T. Grosso, food service manager with Marine Corps Installations-West, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.