After months of practice, culinary students are finally prepared to participate in the ProStart Culinary Competition, a competition where culinary students from various areas come together to create meals, show off their skills, and receive feedback for their creations. In this competition, students pick a dish from one of many regions and try their best to recreate it.

“We really didn’t see any Asian dishes, so we took inspiration from that and we decided that we wanted to do Asian food, we were hoping to stand out from other competitors,” junior Jordin Petteway said.

During this competition, students have various requirements that must be met in order for them to succeed, which they have been practicing for weeks.

“One of the things I have to do is cut up a lot of vegetables in under 10 minutes, so to do that I’ve just been practicing every day, and I’ve definitely gotten faster,” Petteway said.

To bring themselves success, students have learned to keep their minds steady and their movements precise.

“I’ve been taking time to practice having to do everything in a timely manner,” senior Esperanza Rodriguez said. “I’m just making sure I can do everything, and making sure my hand is good and steady.”

Although culinary students have skills in many different areas when it comes to creating dishes, there are difficulties that arise from time to time.

“One of my biggest challenges was trying to learn how to use fondant, but I was able to overcome it by watching videos and my teacher helping me, ” junior Daniela Cantu said.

Despite these struggles, students have put in exceptionally hard work, and are confident in their abilities to succeed within this competition.

“I’m ready to do this,” Petteway said. “My mindset is that I shouldn’t get too nervous, it’ll be over in an hour whether it goes bad or good.”