In a remarkable twist on an already amazing year, our Culinary Arts Magnet has won a SECOND national title, placing Top 10 in the NASA HUNCH Culinary Challenge for the SECOND year in a row. You may remember we placed Second in the nation in 2022 – this time, we’re shooting for first place! We will be traveling to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX from April 18-20th to make our signature dish: Jambalaya with Ground Chicken Andouille Sausage, Shrimp, and Wild Rice. It is spicy, smoky, and very satisfying – we are hoping the astronauts pick our dish to take with them to the International Space Station. What an honor!

A sincere thank you to all of our industry partners who supported the NASA team and made the long trek out to Apopka to participate in the district competition. We wouldn’t have made it this far without your help! A special thanks to our Disney friends and to Chef Helminski for his early work with the team refining the recipe and giving feedback.

Please congratulate Judah Myers, Danny Ha, Erick Hendrickson, Nicholas Eberle, and Travis Grider on their amazing achievement and wish them luck in Houston this April.

Pictures from this year’s NASA HUNCH Culinary Challenge Regional Competition, 23

Scroll down for pictures and videos from last year’s competition.

Hearty Ethnic Soup or Stew – a Culinary Competition in partnership with the American Culinary Federation, Sullivan University and the Johnson Space Center Food Lab

OVERVIEW AND RULES

This year, 5 -7 Wekiva students have the opportunity to be involved with an exciting competition: designing menus for astronauts to be served on the International Space Station.

If chosen as one of the top 10 competitors, our Culinary team will travel with Chef to the Houston Space Center to present their work to top NASA officials, American Culinary Federation Chefs, and Culinary Celebrity judges. Not only do the winners have their meals served to astronauts, there are BIG scholarship awards on the line.

This will be our third year competing and Wekiva is positioned to take first prize – we’re just going to need to beat our 189 other schools to get there!

Watch the FOX news story on our first attempt here.

WHAT DO THE WINNERS GET?

In addition to substantial bragging rights and a cool patch for your chef coat, First place winners will have their meal prepared by the JSC food lab for astronauts in flight, receive a full ride scholarship to Sullivan University’s Culinary Arts, Pastry, or Hospitality programs, as well as get free access and be honored at the ACF National Convention (worth $675).

THE CHALLENGE – RECIPE GUIDELINES

This year the challenge will be to make a hearty ethnic soup or stew that can be completed in 2.5 hours with ingredients source-able through Publix.com while meeting the nutritional guidelines below:

For the Hearty Ethnic Soup or Stew

Calories – 150-350
Fat – 10 grams or less
Saturated Fat – 3grams or less
Sodium – 250 mg or less
Dietary Fiber – 2 grams or more
Sugar – 8 grams or less

**Menu items may not contain raw fish or shellfish or uncooked meats and or desserts, sauces, or dressings using raw eggs or egg whites

FORMS

All competitors and their parents need to fill out their participation forms as soon as NASA makes them available. Stay connected to know when that date arrives – we will only have two weeks from the first date they are posted till the deadline. This form allows HUNCH to recognize students publicly on their website and social media platforms. The form must be complete in order to receive a certificate of recognition at the end of the school year or be eligible for any scholarships.

DESCRIPTION

The Astronaut Culinary Challenge is part of NASA HUNCH – develops food items for the Astronauts aboard the International Space Station from a general theme idea. Each year there is a new theme given out to the schools where the students create new dishes taking into account food processing procedure and nutritional requirements so that their items will meet the standards of the NASA Johnson Space Center Food Lab.

Nationwide there are about 200 different schools creating many entrees to be brought into their local NASA centers to be judged by different food industry professionals and personnel from the center. After these preliminary culinary competitions, the top 10 from across the country are invited to Johnson Space Center for a final competition where their work will be judged by Food Lab personnel, industry professionals, ISS program office, and Astronauts for quality, taste, their work on the research paper, and presentation video.

TIMELINE

September: Fill out Talent Authorization form
September – October – study effects of microgravity on food and digestion, nutritional needs of Astronauts, food process for space flight, and the Health Stabilization Program; start preparing recipes
October 14: Submit short 1-2 page paper describing what the team learned in preparation for the competition
October 31: Recipe submission deadline
December 2: Feedback on recipes delivered from JSC
January – February: Complete recipe preparation, submit final papers and 2 minute youtube video
February – March 3: Preliminary Competitors named; Preliminary competitions at the different NASA centers scheduled
March 10: Top 10 selected for Houston Final Competition
April 17 2 minute videos due
April 20 Top 10 Competition

Pictures from the Regional Competition

Pictures from National Competition

RESEARCH LINKS

JSC Food Lab

Food Engineering and Food Science:

http://rpaulsingh.com/

Animation of Freeze drying:

http://rpaulsingh.com/animations/freeze_dryer.html

Thermal Stabilized Products:

http://rpaulsingh.com/learning/virtual/experiments/canning/index.html

SCORING

Research Paper Rubric (25% of score)

Team name (1%)
Schools name and address (1%)
Picture of team (2%)
2 paragraphs on food science, engineering, processing for microgravity, and physiological changes that cause them to need additional fiber, low sodium, certain calories, and flavorful foods. Also include information about the Health Stabilization Program. (7%)
1 paragraph on the meal, its contents, how it meets or exceeds the nutritional requirements, and why you chose that meal (5%)
1 paragraph on how your meal should be processed and how you think it would be reconstituted for eating in space. (2%)
1 paragraph about the Health Stabilization Program and why it is important for our astronauts to quarantine prior to space flight. (3%)
1 paragraph about what you learned throughout this process of the culinary challenge competition (4%)
Recipe and nutritional content (if you do not put at the back you will lose 10% – 5 for the recipe, 5 for the nutritional Content

Your paper is graded on what you provide according to above, but also will be given extra points for going beyond the requirements stated.

Video Rubric (15 % of Score)

All team members talk in the video (2%)
Talk about your team and your school (1%)
Touch on what you learned for the Health Stabilization Program (5%)
Tell about your entrée and why you chose it (Show us your entrée) (5%)
Mention the HUNCH name in your video (1%)
Mention the JSC Food Lab in your video (1%)
Be CREATIVE

Recipe Score (based of Sensory Evaluation Rubric) 60%

Recipes are evaluated based FIRST on meeting the nutritional guidelines. If a recipe doesn’t meet the guidelines, it will NOT be considered for the preliminary competition. How do you figure out your recipe’s nutrition? Copy and paste all ingredients to a recipe analyzer!

How the food LOOKS on the plate is NOT as important as how it tastes. Garnishes are okay as long as they are included in the nutrition count, however, do not spend lots of time thinking about making it “pretty.” Pretty doesn’t win you points.

As they have in years past, NASA will judge all competitors food using the 9-Point Hedonic Scale Sensory Evaluation.