Get creative with your Vitamix blender and win a trip to NYC! This year, StarChefs is hosting its 13th Annual International Chefs Congress in Brooklyn, NY, and they’re inviting chefs across the country to compete in the 2018 Vitamix Challenge. The deadline for submitting a recipe and application to win a trip to the finals is August 24. Recipe submissions should be a fully composed dish that creatively demonstrates use of a Vitamix blender.
For the Vitamix Challenge, StarChefs is looking for recipes that follow this year’s theme, Cooking with Respect. Whether it’s rinds, skins, or bruised fruit, the recipe should highlight the potential of food scraps and by-products to make a delicious meal. We at CulEpi salute StarChefs’ and Vitamix’s effort to get people in kitchens to find innovative solutions to food waste instead of tossing out their leftovers. Our own Liya Cui wrote about this very topic in her article, “Leftovers and Ugly Produce: Garbage, or A Solution to Hunger?“.
Five finalists will be flown to Brooklyn to compete on the Main Stage of the 2018 StarChefs Congress on Tuesday, October 23. The grand prize winner takes home a Vitamix Vita-Prep 3, a Vitamix XL, The Quiet One by Vitamix and a $500 American Express Gift Card!
Past winners include Cameron Hanin of Ma’Ono in 2016 and Page Pressley of Emmer & Rye in 2017. Pressley will return as a judge this year along with George Mendes of Aldea. They’ll decide on a winner based on visual presentation, uniqueness of equipment technique, compatibility with theme and overall taste of the dish.
The Vitamix Challenge is part of the StarChefs International Chefs Congress, three action-packed days of cooking demonstrations, hands-on workshops, walk-around tastings, restaurant pop-ups, and business seminars. This year’s Congress headliners include Dominique Crenn, Michael Gulotta, Phillip Tessier, Jennifer Yee, Danny Meyer, Bonnie Morales, Aaron Bludorn, Sean Sherman, and many more.
