USA. Travel restaurateur HMSHost held its fourth annual Channel Your Inner Chef competition on Tuesday at Chicago O’Hare International Airport Terminal 2, in partnership with the Chicago Department of Aviation. Five aspiring chefs took part in a live cooking contest in front of travellers, airport and airline employees, with Anna Cooper from Houston emerging as the winner.
The finalists were challenged with creating an original recipe from ingredients revealed to them only at the start of the event. They also chose their own ingredient from the O’Hare Urban Garden in Terminal 3.
Travellers watching the cook-off were also treated to a live musical performance by Broadway actor and Hamilton Chicago star, Miguel Cervantes, along with food & beverage tastings from HMSHost-operated restaurants at Chicago O’Hare.
“Channel Your Inner Chef is a culinary event unlike any other you can find in an airport and we are thrilled to partner with the Chicago Department of Aviation to bring this competition back for its fourth year at Chicago O’Hare. We are celebrating Chicago as the culinary capital of the world, while entertaining and engaging travellers in an innovative way only HMSHost can,” said HMSHost President and CEO Steve Johnson. “This action-packed event showcased the diverse range of aspiring culinary talent found here in Chicago and across the country and we congratulate each of the contestants on truly outstanding performances.”
Anna Cooper won with her spicy mustard seed seared lamb with rosemary-infused ricotta whipped potatoes, and a blackberry and shallot balsamic reduction. The dish will be featured on the menu of an HMSHost-operated restaurant at Chicago O’Hare later this summer. She also receives a round-trip airfare for two, as well as a VIP trip for two to attend the James Beard Awards Gala in Chicago.
Cooper is a magazine food writer and food blogger. She said she entered the contest to push herself out of her comfort zone of cooking for familiar people and now hopes to connect with people across the globe through food.
“We are very pleased to partner with HMSHost for the fourth annual Channel Your Inner Chef competition at O’Hare,” said Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Ginger S. Evans. “Anyone who visits Chicago knows it is a destination for culinary diversity and excellence. This unique cooking competition is a great opportunity to showcase emerging culinary talent as well as some of Chicago’s finest culinary attractions home to the airport.”
The chefs were judged by a panel that included: Ginger S. Evans, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Aviation; Michael Zalewski, Alderman of the 23rd Ward of Chicago, Aviation Committee Chairman; Christian Farr, NBC 5 Chicago reporter; and celebrity chef Lorena Garcia. The judges based their winning selection criteria on recipe, presentation, showmanship, and taste.
HMSHost and the Chicago Department of Aviation launched the culinary competition four years ago at Chicago O’Hare as the first ever live cooking competition to take place in an airport. Channel Your Inner Chef celebrates HMSHost’s sponsorship of the 2018 James Beard Awards.
To enter, contestants submitted a video of themselves preparing an original recipe. Five finalists were selected from a pool of video submissions from diverse backgrounds and skill sets.
The event was streamed live on the Chicago O’Hare Facebook page and can be viewed at Facebook.com/fly2ohare.
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The company also organises the annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards. This year’s FAB will be held in Helsinki on 20 and 21 June. Click here for details.
