On February 16th EJCA Culinary Arts students participated in the first annual Rhode Island ProStart Culinary Competition at the Radisson Providence Airport Hotel. Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian welcomed all the Culinary competitors to the competition and wished them all good luck. EJCA sent four teams to the competition and all four teams placed. Students were evaluated on 8 areas of expertise during this 3 course meal, timed competition including food transportation, Industry Food Safety standards, menu presentation, teamwork, uniform quality and safety, chicken cuts and quality of each course. Each team worked well together and unfortunately only the top three places earned recognition and scholarships. The top three teams earned scholarships to Johnson & Wales University, New England Culinary Institute, Lincoln Culinary Institute and Louisiana Culinary Institute. EJCA’s Team Phoenix will be competing at the National ProStart Competition in Baltimore, MD April 27-29, 2012. USFOODS provide EJCA students with technical assistance and donated many of the food items needed for the competition. Many of the Food industry leaders were judges during the Rhode Island competition including national TV recognized Chef Terranova “Cooking with Class”; Brian Casey RI restaurant owner and National Restaurant Association board member; Jesse James US FOODS; Dale Venturini RI Hospitality Association President; Chris Phillips The Capital Grille; and Casey Riley Newport Harbor Corporation as well as Greg Beachy, New England Region ProStart to name a few. It was a very exciting day and the students’ hard working to prepare for the competion payed off.