FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2008
Contact: Jessica Wong
(662) 329-7119

MUW student culinology team competes in Seattle

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Mississippi University for Women students from the
Culinary Arts Institute will compete in the finals for the Research Chefs Association Student Culinology Competition for the second year. The competition will take place in Seattle, Wash., today through Saturday.

The team was chosen last year as one of three finalists to compete in the inaugural competition in New Orleans. During the competition, the team created an entrée onsite, which was then judged against a frozen entrée they had sent as part of the initial submission. The team finished second place in the nation and was awarded $2,500.

Students competing this year are seniors Leslie Beach, as the team leader, Johnna Emerson, Laura Farrell and Catherine Bates.

Dr. James Fitzgerald, director of the Culinary Arts Institute, said, “Well, the research project that the team did is top shelf. This is a unique and creative group of scholars. They worked hard and I am very proud of their accomplishments.”

This year the team’s goal was to create a gourmet meal for two that would possibly be sold in the frozen food section of a grocery store. The meal was to be based on northwestern cuisine and must include fish or shellfish. The team then had to submit a proposal with its meal(s) concept, testings, three technical ingredient uses, a summary of northwestern cuisine and a nutritional analysis of their product. The meal must have contained a nutritionally balanced main dish with appropriate side items retailing at $9.99.

Beach and her team were picked among two other finalists to compete in
the final competition in Seattle.

At the finals, the goal is to re-create their dish in the kitchens while the judges compare it to the reheated frozen entrees they already sent in to see if it matches to the gold standard. The gold standard criterion is an evaluation of the dish made on-site to be judged against the re-heated product.

Fitzgerald said, "The idea is did we incorporate enough science and
technology into our dish so that the frozen entree is as good or as close as possible to the fresh one. It gives us a measure of precision, accuracy and consistency in research and development in this area.”

Three cash awards are given out to the teams--$5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and $1,500 for third place. The winning team will receive national recognition through press releases in RCA news and their website.

Fitzgerald said, “I really am looking forward to seeing them represent MUW culinary arts with class in this prestigious competition among some of the best schools in the U.S.”