The Sixth Grade Cooking Club competed in a “Chopped” competition with four local chefs in attendance: Jeanine Dimenna from “The View Grill Restaurant”, Vito Marchese from Vito’s Ristorante & Pizzeria, John Zozzaro - Pizza Company 7 (pizza truck) and Moris Valle from Chef Moris Cafe.

The goal was to make the most appealing and flavorful dish using all of the ingredients which came in a mystery bag. Mystery bags were randomly selected by Mr. Iocolano which were distributed to each kitchen. Students had 30 minutes to complete the challenge. At the sound of the air horn, the timer began. Students were not given recipes, only a little guidance from the chefs. Each bag had chicken but every bag had different supplemental ingredients. The competing teams were: Kitchen 1: Lilana, Giulia, Londyn and Dayana Kitchen 2: Valencia, Giselle, Sophia, Sasha and Victoria Kitchen 3: Panagioti, Antonio, Michael, Jack Kitchen 4: Vasili, Massimo, Donato and Kosta. Students showed off their creativity, skills and teamwork while creating: Chicken Marsala, Chicken with Spinach, Chicken Parmesan and Chicken Francaise. When the time concluded, each group had to present their dish to the judges; Gianna Gonzales, Skylar Benzinger, Sophia Gonzales and Donna Pascarelli. The judges gave feedback and selected the winning dish, which was chicken with stuffed spinach accompanied by rice from Kitchen 1. Although there was one winner, all participants received prizes and praise from all in attendance. 

Thank you to all participants and guests, but this would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication from Stacy Karathanasis, the food donations from North Shore Farms, the complementary after-party pizza from Vito's Pizza and the garlic knots from Downtown Cafe. 

A very special thank you to Ms. Tania Polansky and Ms. Brooke Tanner, the Cooking Club Advisors.