Wylie Elementary Students Participate in 'Iron Chef' Food Challenge

Hundreds of screaming children filled the cafeteria at in Dexter to cheer on their fellow classmates Friday during an "Iron Chef: Wylie" challenge.

Modeling the event after The Food Network's popular television show, Iron Chef America, the cafeteria at Wylie was transformed into a veritable "kitchen stadium." The TV show pits two chefs against each other in a culinary competition requiring the chefs to complete a four-course meal within one hour while integrating a secret ingredient predetermined by the show's host in each dish.

For the elementary school competition, Zingerman's Roadhouse Chef Alex Young tweaked the setup, serving as the competition's only chef while working with three teams of fourth grade students to create three healthy meals within 20 minutes.

"The point is that healthy nutritious food can be made at home relatively quickly," Young said.

Students were charged with helping Young create a bird's nest salad using chow mein noodles, a fillet of rainbow trout, and crepes with cherries jubilee.

Young said the Chelsea-Area Wellness Foundation came up with the idea of an "Iron Chef" event after brainstorming creative ways to teach younger children about cooking.

"'Iron Chef America' is a pretty well-known program and we thought the kids would get a kick out of working with a real chef," Cheryl McLean, Move Forward program manager said.

McLean said students were chosen at random by their teachers. Participants included Briana Tomczak, Melissa Lewis, Kaitlin DeLacy, Hayden Carr, Olivia Fitzgerald, Madison Welshans and Faith Wesrick.

With classmates counting down the time and cheering on their favorite team, the students scrambled to complete cooking tasks assigned by Young.

"It was really fun to work with a famous chef," fourth grader Llewellyn Harsch said. "I cook meals by myself, but I don't know if I want to be a chef yet."

Llewellyn said her favorite meal to make is French toast.

Nina Ryder said it was "cool" to work with Young on the bird's nest salad.

"The salad was pretty easy to make," she said. "I was glad I wasn't on the fish team. The fish looked hard and challenging. I wasn't sure if they were going to finish on time."

Young said he enjoyed working with the students and may consider duplicating the program at other schools in Washtenaw County that he visits.

"It was a lot of fun," Young said. "The students were so interested and well-mannered. Even the kids who don't eat fish were willing to try it."