2016 Arkansas ProStart Culinary Competition (PHOTOS)

March 10, 2016

Chocolate Chili Mousse by Conway Area Career Center

Today, the future of Arkansas’ culinary arts scene can be found at the 2016 Arkansas ProStart culinary competition, taking place today at Pulaski Tech’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute.

If you’re unfamiliar, ProStart is a high-school level program preparing students for careers in food and hospitality. Students compete as school teams on the state level in their area of interest (culinary arts or hospitality management), and one team in each of these focus areas from each state moves forward to the national competition.

In Arkansas, ProStart is managed by the Arkansas Hospitality Association, which also helps the winning teams get to the national competition. This year, the winning teams will go to the National ProStart Invitational in Dallas, Texas at the end of April.

As with any real-time culinary competition, today’s event is full of excitement and disappointment. The students are all very talented, excited to do well on the three dishes they’ve practiced, which they must produce in 60 minutes. The dishes are then presented to a panel of judges for tasting and critique.

Tomorrow, Pulaski Tech will host the hospitality management competition, where teams give presentations on hospitality-related projects.

Winners of both competitions will be announced at the Governor’s Mansion tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile, feast your eyes on photos from today’s culinary competition, and join us in our anticipation of placing many of these students into the industry very soon.

Competing teams and their final dishes:

Northwest Arkansas Community College Early College Experience

French Onion Stuffed Mushrooms

Duck a L’orange

Lavender Vanilla Bean Creme Brûlée
Arkansas Tech Career Center

Salmon Tartare w/ Heirloom Tomato Salad

Smores un Plaisir Sucre
Conway Area Career Center

Deconstructed Pozole

Mahi Mahi

Chocolate Chili Mousse
Blytheville High School

Shrimp Cucumber Rollups

Filet Mignon with Glazed Carrots

Lemon Cream Filled Crepe
Metropolitan Career Technical Center

Spam Musubi

Macadamia Nut Encrusted Mahi Mahi w Wasabi Cream Sauce

Deconstructed Pineapple Fritter Wonton w Maui Mango Sauce