Representing RUHS, several culinary arts students competed in a culinary competition for Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), a national student organization that helps students pursue careers by providing intracurricular activities. Junior Scarlett Cresta attended the competition and earned third place.
“[Competing is] definitely very nerve-wracking because you have to talk in front of a bunch of judges,” Cresta said. “I had been preparing for a while, but I was scared of messing up. But once you’re in the room, in front of the judges, they’re super nice. They make you feel a lot more comfortable.”
Cresta competed in the Food Innovations category, which asks the participants to create a line of healthy snacks that support local farms. Cresta and her partner, Amber Sanchez, chose to bake lavender lemon cookies with honey icing and orange cranberry scones.
“We did a lot of research beforehand. We knew that teenagers like sweet treats but we didn’t want it to be super unhealthy. So we combined the idea of a cookie with locally sourced ingredients for the healthy aspect of it,” Cresta said.
Contestants were asked to create a poster board and prepare an oral presentation detailing how the products were made. Cresta commented that the oral presentation was the biggest challenge for her, but taught her “leadership skills” and work ethic.
“[Sanchez] and I communicated really well,” Cresta said. “We hung out a lot to work on the projects. Since we knew each other super well, we knew how to communicate with each other, so that process was very efficient.”
All culinary students are required to complete the project as part of their final grade, but only students in the FCCLA Club can take part in the competition. Cresta mentioned she “really enjoyed making the project,” which is why she and Sanchez decided to compete together.
“I definitely enjoy working with my team members,” Cresta said. “It’s very fun being able to communicate and work together on different dishes. Also, the final product is pretty fun to try. In FCCLA, I like competing too. You get to show off this huge project that you’ve been working on for so long and you feel proud and confident about it.”
Another culinary student, Junior Tejan Barrie, also participated in the competition. He is the first student to ever compete in the live culinary arts event. This category allotted two hours for the participants to cook honey teriyaki chicken, almond rice pilaf and Asian slaw.
“It’s a very challenging competition,” Barrie said. “Not many people make it, but I’ve been practicing for two months. Almost every day.”
Barrie and Cresta will be advancing to the State competitions held in Riverside during April. They’ve expressed excitement regarding the chance and plan to “make sure everything flows correctly” before then.
“It’s a great opportunity, because you’re being seen on an even bigger scale,” Barrie said. “Rather than just our region, it’s the whole state of California. It’s a really big opportunity to be seen by a lot of people, and have more scholarship opportunities.”
Cresta and Barrie have both been surrounded by cooking and culinary arts throughout their lives, which encouraged them to learn more about the skills themselves.
“In my family, we connect mainly through cooking. My nonna in New York always cooked for us, and I wanted to learn how to cook to follow through with that connection,” Cresta said. “My nonna has this pasta that she cooks [for every] holiday, and she taught me how to cook it. I’m just trying to make it well and perfect it.”
While Cresta prefers to keep cooking as a hobby, Barrie looks forward to attending culinary school and working in the culinary field.
“I always had dreams and aspirations to be a chef, and [FCCLA] let me compete and potentially get scholarships. I love to cook, so a culinary class and this club went hand in hand with that,” Barrie said. “I love making people happy when they eat my food.”
