Kenzie James
news@greenepublishing.com
The annual Florida Future Chef competition, sponsored by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, is currently accepting applications for contestants for the 2024 competition.
Students from seven-years-old to 13-years-old are invited to enter the competition, with a short video of themselves preparing their favorite dish using in-season Florida ingredients. The prompt for the competition is to “recreate or elevate a school meal,” according to the Florida Future Chef website. Students are asked to make one of their favorite lunch meals unique by adding their own take, such as different spices, more produce or taking inspiration from a family recipe. Additionally, chefs must use at least one Fresh from Florida ingredient. The list of in-season ingredients can be found at https://followfreshfromflordia.com/.
To enter, a student’s cooking video must be between two and five minutes long and show them preparing the dish. The judging panel will evaluate the videos 50 percent on appearance and 50 percent on presentation and creativity. Three finalists will be selected and notified around Monday, July 22 and will be invited to an in-person finale in September. The winner of the competition will earn $5,000; second place will receive $3,000; and third place will receive $2,000, all through Florida Prepaid. The Florida Future Chef competition can be a way to start a young chef's career. Last year's champion, Remy, recently competed on MasterChef Junior season nine and was one of the runners-up.
The entry period for the 2024 competition is open for students to submit videos until Friday, July 12. Entry forms and additional information can be found at https://floridafuturechef.com.