SANDY, Utah — Do you like cooking competition shows? I do, so it was a treat to watch Utah high school students show off skills that match what I see on TV. I watched them in person at the Prostart Culinary State Competition at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy.
I'd never heard of it before I stumbled onto it online a couple of days ago, but it's a pretty big deal. The Utah Restaurant Association has been sponsoring the Prostart curriculum in Utah High Schools since the late 1990s, and the culinary competition is well into its second decade. Sixty-two Utah schools participate.
Professional chefs like Utah Valley University's Troy Wilson guide the students through the event, making sure their food is safe, and examining the students' uniforms for... well, uniformity.
"It's all very primitive as far as the cooking is concerned," Wilson told me, "And it's amazing what they can do with a butane burner in one hour."
I was amazed. The team I followed through the competition was from Westlake High School, and they made a beautiful three-course meal. Seared halibut was the entree, though Brooklyn Thurgood was most proud of their huckleberry dessert.
"The most fun for us was the dessert, but we're feeling very confident in everything we practiced," said Thurgood.
Students won't learn the results for a full day after the competition closes.
"We're very careful about tabulating the results. We even have our accounting firm confirm them," said Melva Sine, the president of the Utah Restaurant Association.
The winners go on to the national competition. But several chefs at the event told me every student who graduates from the 2-year culinary program has a leg up on the competition when they apply for jobs or for spots in culinary schools.
