Another throwdown on Tobacco Road on Friday, January 15; the Wolfpack challenged the Tar Heels on more than the basketball court. Facing off in the inaugural Collegiate Culinary Challenge, NC State took on UNC-Chapel Hill in a kitchen throwdown pitting both universities’ professional and student culinary teams against each other.
The competition took place on the top floor of UNC’s Lenoir Hall. Student leaders, including members of NC State’s Foodie Group, Student Government and NC State University Student Centers, took the ride over to Chapel Hill to cheer on their fellow Wolfpack competitors. Each team was given one hour to prepare their dishes. After a hard-fought competition, the results were split. NC State came through with a win in the professional competition, while UNC narrowly edged out a victory in the student competition.
“It was great opportunity to expand my culinary skills,” said Madison Breen, who was a member of the NC State student culinary team. “We learned so much from the chefs.”
Students and administrators were treated to a diverse menu of locally sourced ingredients, many of which originated from the NC State campus. The NC State Agroecology Farm supplied some tasty vegetables, while Howling Cow donated dairy items.
There are hopes to grow next year’s Collegiate Culinary Challenge to other ACC schools.
“We would love to see the event expand into a Big Four challenge that also includes Duke and Wake Forest, which were unavailable this year,” said Shawn Hoch, associate director of NC State Dining at NC State.
NC State’s professional chef team and student participants included:
- Chef Cory Dougherty, CEC | One Earth World Cuisine
- Chef Mark Turner, CEC | Catering Executive Chef
- Chef Adam Smith | On The Oval Culinary Creations
- Chef Eddie Wilson, CEC, CCA | Talley Executive Chef | Event Organizer & Student Team Coach
- Madison Breen | Masters | Higher Education
- Kaitlyn Williams | Bachelors | Biochemistry
- Vaarun Ramasamy | Masters | Aerospace Engineering
NC State Dining is a service of Campus Enterprises, the lead division for retail and hospitality on the NC State University campus. For more information on NC State Dining or the Collegiate Culinary Challenge, contact Lindsay Hester, Marketing Manager, at 919.513.0543 or via email at lphester@ncsu.edu.