Georgia 4-H Food Showcase

Summary

Hundreds of Georgia youth participate annually in 4-H Food & Nutrition Projects. In these projects they learn how to budget and prepare nutritious and safe meals and snacks. They also adopt behaviors that can help reduce their risk for chronic disease. Georgia 4-H'ers and their 4-H leaders had requested additional opportunities for 4-H'ers to compete in and earn state and national recognition in 4-H Foods and Nutrition contests.

Situation

In the past, Georgia held two State level contests at the Georgia National Fair in Perry. These were the Georgia 4-H Chicken Barbecue Contest and the Georgia 4-H Egg Preparation Demonstration Contest. In an effort to offer the winners of these contest more time to prepare for the National contest, we moved the event to an earlier time. Additionally, we added two additional state level contests that advance to National – the 4-H Food Challenge and the 4-H Turkey Barbecue Contest.

Response

The 4-H Food Challenge is a “highly charged” foods experience. This contest, modeled after such competitions as the Food Network's “Iron Chef,” challenges teams of 4-H members to create a dish using a pre¬determined number of ingredients. From these ingredients, team members must identify and prepare the dish, then make a presentation about it to the judges. The presentation includes information about the serving size, nutritional value, and cost of the dish. The 4-H Food Challenge allows 4-H members to demonstrate their culinary and food safety skills to judges and observers. A statewide committee was convened to manage all four contests at the Second Annual Georgia 4-H Food Showcase. Through conference calls and networking, the committee made plans for the Georgia 4-H Food Showcase which was held on September 10, 2016 at Rock Eagle 4-H Center. Two new donors were secured to help sponsor the new contests. Additionally, Georgia 4-H applied for and received the Youth Voice – Youth Choice grant sponsored by Walmart which will support the 4-H Food Challenge and training for the event. Four state winners were named – one contestant or team for each of the four contests.

Impact

The Second Georgia 4-H Food Showcase was very successful including a 300% increase in participation in the 4-H Food Challenge contest. Six Senior (grades 9 – 12) teams competed and three Junior ( grades 6-8) teams competed. Paulding County was named the State winner and Chatham County finished second, and several weeks later, Paulding County placed third at the National contest in Dallas, Texas, while Chatham County earned fourth place honors at the National contest. The second ever champion in the Georgia 4-H Turkey Barbecue Contest was chosen. The national event was held November 16-18 in Louisville, Kentucky at the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Symposium. Our winner from Monroe County earned 4th place honors in the National event. Winners were also named in the Egg Preparation Demonstration Contest and the Chicken Barbecue Contest. The national contest for both was held November 16-18 in Louisville, Kentucky at the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Symposium. Georgia 4-H'ers placed 2nd in Egg Preparation and 9th in Chicken Barbecue. The committee was integral in the success of the day. Many of them commented on the organization and success of the day and voiced their opinion in overwhelming approval for continuing to host the event at Rock Eagle 4-H Center as a more central location for more counties as well as the addition of two state level competitions. In addition, the parents, judges and others attending were extremely complimentary of the entire competition day. With the new grant, we will be working with the committee to plan webinars and even practice events in 4-H summer programs and a 4-H Healthy Living Ambassador track at 4-H Senior Camp in summer 2017. We are confident that the contest will continue to grow and provide a wonderful learning event for all the 4-H'ers involved!

State Issue

Food, Nutrition and Health

Details

• Year: 2016
• Geographic Scope: State
• County: Putnam
• Program Areas:
  • 4-H Youth
  • Family and Consumer Sciences