Recent “Chopped” winner David Ho is coming to Arlington next week to take part in a kids cooking competition.
Ho will judge the K12 National Cook-Off, which is being held at Kitchen of Purpose in Arlington on Saturday, July 13. Celebrity chef Isabel Coss and Daniela Hurtado, Kitchen of Purpose’s director of programs, will also serve as judges.
Six kid chefs across the country were chosen from over 350 applicants to advance to the final competition.
The fledgling foodies were selected to compete in Arlington because of the unique recipes they submitted to the competition’s first round. Each applicant was required to concoct a dish with the following stipulations:
- An ingredient that starts with the letter C
- A green ingredient
- A protein source
- An ingredient from the freezer
- At least three spices that aren’t salt or pepper
Applicants sent their recipes, photos and an optional video to the judges for decision-making. The six winning recipes range from a lemon-sauced cod to tropical sweet and sour chicken in pineapple bowls.
Ho, Hurtado and Coss will judge finalists’ creations on “taste of the dish, presentation, creativity of ingredients, time allotted, food safety, and Mise en place,” which refers to how ingredients are prepared before serving, according to a press release. The top competitor will receive a prize of $1,000.
The cook-off is the result of a partnership between K12 Enrichment and Kitchen of Purpose, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting low-income people and combating food insecurity. Kitchen of Purpose is based along Columbia Pike and has an open-to-the-public cafe at 3507 Columbia Pike.
The in-person event will be the first of its kind for K12, which previously hosted two virtual cook-offs.
While the cook-off won’t be open to the public, it will be televised in August.
Ho, who’s from Loudoun County, won the popular Food Network cooking competition earlier this year.
Photo via Martin van den Heuvel/Unsplash
