Foods, Warrior Chef, and Edible Homework

Ms. Hall and Ms. Cantrell teach all three periods of Foods 1 out of Room 2117, a classroom that looks more like a kitchen than anything else — stacks of aprons, ovens, and six different refrigerators surround the dinner tables their students work at. Wearisome refugees from classes that don’t permit homework-eating sign-up in droves; most years, every seat is full. Between the projects and “cooking labs” every week or two, there’s always something to look forward to in Foods — but the real highlight of the year is the annual Warrior Chef competition. 

   Usually held in February, the three-day cooking bonanza involves dozens of chefs and hundreds of dollars worth of food (graciously fundraised for by FCCLA). Groups from every class scramble to prepare around 200 samples for hungry students during lunch, testing the skills they’ve been honing for the past few months. At this year’s event, which ran from February 8-10, most groups ran out of samples in minutes.

   Crystal Ribble (11), who helped make strawberry cakes on day two, loved every moment of Warrior Chef; when she wasn’t dishing out samples, she was in line sampling with all the other students. As much as Ribble enjoyed the event, though, she had a feeling her group wouldn’t win the competition. Ms. Hall and Ms. Cantrell had given every sampler a “ticket” to vote for their favorite dish, and Ribble had a feeling her cake was a “little too sweet” to score many votes. As it turned out, she was wrong — her group placed second, just slightly edged out by the Oreo Mousse Cake that took first for the day.

   Christine Huston (11) was another one of this year’s winners. Out of the six dishes from her class, her Oreo Cheesecake Bars (not to be confused with the Oreo Mousse Cake) earned the most votes. The recipe was her idea — it looked “so good” that the second she showed her group, they knew what they were making. She credits part of her success to the sample size — they made four pans of the cake, enough to give everyone a chance to “really try it.” Ms. Cantrell awarded Huston and her group with custom Warrior Chef aprons a few days later.  

   Eliana Gonzalez (12), a Foods veteran, won the competition in her junior year. Her group made tres leches cake, a fan-favorite that has become somewhat legendary (their poster was even used as an example for this year’s classes). She recalled pitching the idea to her group, urging them to just “trust.” Aside from some difficulty partitioning such a moist cake into individual samples, her whole group was proud of their final product. Just like this year, Ms. Cantrell and Ms. Hall had given them special Warrior Chef branded oven-mitts that Gonzalez still uses to this day.

   When it comes down to it, though, there are no real losers in Warrior Chef. The chefs get their practice, the students get their samples, and the West High Foods Program gets promotion. According to Ms. Cantrell, she and Ms. Hall hope to expand to five classes next year; there are more than enough eager students, and it’s easy to see why. There is no stress in tres leches cake, only deliciousness.