Winning Flood Brook Jr. Iron Chef team cooks for Vt. legislators

On Tuesday, April 11, the Flood Brook Tigers Jr. Iron Chef team went to the State House as part of a Junior Iron Chef VT celebratory event.

Winning teams from the Junior Iron Chef VT competition had been invited to the State House by the program’s coordinators. The Collaborative AmeriCorps member assistant coach, Sarah Kittross, visited Montpelier with the three junior chefs — Alex Wasyliko, Stella Turner and Halyn McIntyre.

Students heard the reading of the Junior Iron Chef Resolution on the House floor and afterwards cooked and served samples of their winning dish to legislators in the State House food court. The State of Vermont House of Representatives’ concurrent House Resolution congratulated the Flood Brook Tigers personally for winning the Crowd Pleaser award that best incorporated color, texture and taste, for their samosas.

After preparing the dish that morning in the State House, the team’s vegetarian samosas with cilantro and mint chutney were a big hit with Montpelier’s policy makers. The team spent 12 weeks developing the recipe and learning cooking techniques and teamwork with exceptional coaching by local Indian cuisine expert Lini Mazumdar.

Generous donations from Flood Brook Chef Kelly Foster and Clark’s IGA made the entire program possible.