Giving back to the community is one of the staples of our company, and we are fortunate to have been given the amazing opportunity to help junior chefs achieve their dreams. As part of our corporate charitable giving initiative, FOH® From Our Hearts®, we are always looking for ways to partner with nonprofits and other outreach programs. In keeping with this tradition, we teamed up with The Education Fund to proudly sponsor the 2023 Taste of Education event.
Taste of Education is a culinary competition involving several middle and high school culinary programs. The event helps support culinary arts within the Miami-Dade County Public School System through teaching and career development opportunities. Students learn all about proper food presentation and preparation techniques, safety best practices, and about the foodservice and hospitality sector in general.
The event also helps raise money for public schools as part of The Education Fund, a nonprofit organization that implements a range of initiatives to support and improve public education in Miami-Dade. The organization has raised more than $68 million since it was established in 1985 and continues to find new and impactful ways to help students succeed.
How the Taste of Education Community Outreach Program Works
A team of junior chefs from each participating school is charged with creating unique dishes across several categories that highlight their culinary skills for more than 400 guests. The teams vie for thousands of dollars in prizes and their dishes are judged by a “culinary committee” composed of celebrity chefs, restaurant and hospitality industry partners, and other community leaders. This year, the cooking contest took place on February 28 at Hialeah Park and featured 23 of Miami-Dade County’s public school culinary programs.
How We Partnered With Taste of Education
The opportunity to partner with Taste of Education came to us in 2019 after one of our long-time partners, Chef Dayanny De La Cruz, suggested the idea. Executive Chef of the Miami Dolphins NFL team at the Hard Rock Stadium and owner of Levy Restaurants, Chef De La Cruz has partnered with the program and participated as a judge in previous years.
Naturally, we were thrilled to have the chance to give back to the community, helping these junior chefs master their culinary skills and prepare for successful careers in the foodservice and hospitality industry. We’ve proudly been involved with the community outreach program ever since.
Our Role in the Event and How We Helped Junior Chefs
As a sponsor of both The Education Fund and the Taste of Education event, we provided an in-kind donation of the plating vessels used by the students, such as plates, bowls, cups, and ramekins from our Artic, Catalyst, Harmony, Kiln, Kyoto, Origami, Spiral, and Tides porcelain and buffet collections.
Plating options can make or break a chef’s presentation, so we wanted to ensure the junior chefs were given a vast range of serving options suitable for front of house industry standards. This ability gives them the opportunity to properly highlight and complement their gourmet dishes in the best and most elevated way possible. Now, they know how plating goes beyond recipe making and basic food serving.
Our very own Executive Vice President, Mayda Perez, also participated as a judge for the cooking contest this year. The students prepared 30 dishes in a variety of categories, including meat, seafood, vegetarian, and dessert. There were also special awards for best pitch, best visual food presentation, healthiest dishes, and a “People’s Choice” award.
The event offered us an amazing opportunity to help students. We were grateful to have played a role in helping the junior chefs and the Miami-Dade Public Schools culinary arts program and look forward to participating in next year’s culinary competition.