Naperville students create healthy fare for future chefs challenge

Each shiny apple, round blueberry, halved grape, pineapple chunk and strawberry segment was in its place when 11-year-old Nora Johnson-Guy of Naperville finished her creation: Fruity Faces.

Sliding a miniature version of the carefully arranged fruit tray onto a display table she decorated herself, the Scott Elementary fifth-grader was the first to finish Wednesday during a Future Chefs Challenge sponsored by food service provider Sodexo.

The competition invited fourth- and fifth-grade students at 1,000 schools across the nation to design their best healthy snacks to be judged for originality, ease of presentation, kid-friendliness and use of healthy ingredients such as yogurt, apples, turkey, tortillas or pineapple.

"If the students included those ingredients into their recipe, then they could get bonus points," said Barbara Brown, general manager for Sodexo, food vendor for Naperville Unit District 203.

Nora and 27 others from seven schools in District 203 assembled their healthy recipes in 50 minutes or less during the district finals Wednesday.

Fabianna Marin-Galluci was named the winner for her Hawaiian Rice Pizza, and will be considered to become a regional finalist. Sodexo culinary experts will judge regional finalists' recipes and choose five national finalists who will record videos for a Future Chefs YouTube channel. Online voters will pick their favorite chef to crown the winner in a process that's expected to conclude by late April.

In its fifth year, the Sodexo contest aims to get students thinking creatively about making healthy choices.

"When I think of healthy foods, I usually think of fruits and vegetables," Nora said.

Hence the Fruity Faces, the first recipe she came up with when she decided to enter her first cooking competition. Her finished Fruity Faces had a bowl of yogurt, granola and strawberries for a nose, grapes for eyes, pineapple for eyebrows and bananas for a neck, along with apples, blueberries and more strawberries.

"I really like kiwi," she said. "I don't know why, but I didn't think of kiwi to use in my recipe."

Working next to 9-year-old Tanner Gaskin, who was struggling to pit an avocado while making Mr. T's Guacamole, Nora sliced, chopped and arranged her fruits. Nora, who says she's a fan of the mini corn dogs Sodexo sometimes serves for hot lunches, so far has built her cooking chops by working with her dad.

"I like making apple pie with my dad, and we make potato chips with chopped potatoes and fry them in a pan," Nora said.

See, fruits and vegetables.

Peaches, green peppers and chickpeas were among the plant-based ingredients other competitors used to piece together parfaits, smoothies, pizzas, wraps and kebabs. This was the first time this year's Naperville competitors made their recipe for a panel of judges.

"Most of them have made it multiple times at home practicing," Brown said.

Students learned about food safety, the importance of hand-washing and proper chopping technique in the process. They also gained experience cooking on a stage of sorts, as 100 parents and siblings crowded the Scott Elementary gym with cameras trained on their budding chefs - or maybe just home cooks.

"I enjoy cooking," Nora said. "But I don't know if I'd want to do it every day."