Southern Utah University’s Community Garden hosted their cook-off competition in room 204 of the General Classroom Building. Students were challenged to create meals using products from the garden.
Two teams entered the competition and after approximately one hour of cooking several meals were offered to taste. Participants made chocolate pumpkin cookies, sage mushrooms with brown butter and a “fall soup” composed of green peppers, carrot, tomatoes, mint and beans.
“I basically saw that they had sage, and I really like this with mushrooms, so I decided to make it,” said cook-off contestant Isabel Carroll. “I think it was really fun. It was honestly nice that it wasn’t a real competition, there was more camaraderie.”
Students who did not compete participated by tasting the dishes. The crew joined two tables to form a single large one and participants were able to share food and recipes. The chocolate pumpkin cookies baked by Carroll and her teammate Hadley Humes won the contest and the pair received a water bottle, a storing bag and a recycling shopping bag.
“This was low stakes and we could just enjoy ourselves. It was less a cook-off and more a family dinner,” said Humes.
Aubrey Hall, president of the Community Garden hopes to have another edition of the event next year.
“I hope more people are gonna come to the garden to see how food connects us all,” said Hall. “We can create fun things with the product that we grow even when we might not have a recipe or all the ingredients.”
Professor of nutrition at SUU, Hannah Nickerson, appreciated the students’ involvement in this activity and thinks it went well. Nickerson encouraged students interested in being involved to join the Community Garden.
Meetings are held on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. More information about the recipes and activities can be found on SUU Community Garden’s Instagram.
Author: Fanny Felixine
Editor: Heather Turner
Copy Editor: Michele Fogg
Photos by Audrey Hall and Fanny Felixine
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