WILLIAMSBURG — Excitement was in the air Thursday morning, April 17 as students faced off to be crowned “Battle of the Basket Champion” at an event hosted by New York Edge, an organization that hosts after-school programs to help students from disadvantaged communities learn life skills.
“Food is a universal language,” Conn said. “Regardless of where they’re from, what their cultural backgrounds are, what their families do, what their socioeconomic status is — food is a language.”
New York Edge is an afterschool program for students that aims to keep students safe and busy in the downtime between school dismissal and when their parents get home. The organization offers programs such as a STEM curriculum, arts showcases, college counseling, sports and other productive options. “Battle of the Baskets,” New York Edge’s annual cooking competition, takes the most skilled chefs from elementary and middle schools participating in the Food Explorers program.
The event took place on the ninth floor of LevelBK at North Sixth St., where the space was filled with balloons, portable cooking equipment and mysterious baskets on each table.
Like the popular Food Network competition series “Chopped,” the baskets contained mystery ingredients. Each team had to create an entree and dessert using the mystery ingredients. Students had 60 minutes to compete in the entree round and 40 minutes for the dessert round.
Dishes were judged based on taste, presentation, safety and creativity by a panel of three judges, including Culinary Institute of America valedictorian Dave Westervelt, It’s Just Cake CEO Lori Nicholas and Catering by Betrell’s Place Owner Benjamin Loadholt.
Shelby Conn, director of STEM and food science at New York Edge, emceed the event. Conn said the purpose of Food Explorers is to teach students to cook with portable equipment and how to make healthy food choices. “Battle of the Baskets” allows students to demonstrate what they’ve learned.
“We want them to walk out on the other end of this competition feeling like they achieved something really great,” Conn said. “When we see their dishes, we’re going to see their little faces light up and they’re going to be so excited to present it.”
Two schools in the Bronx participated in the competition — M.S. 302 middle school and P.S. 121 elementary school. Both schools were on spring break, and the cooking competition was one of the many events by New York Edge to keep students occupied.
“We’re taking this time when they might be at home doing something unproductive and and we’re making it more constructive,” said Conn.
Nicolette Bove is the leasing director for Douglaston Development, the company that owns LevelBK. The 40-story residential building in Williamsburg sits on the East River with a view of the Manhattan skyline. Conn said they wanted to host the event in the luxury building to make the students feel special. Bove said Douglaston often offers services to help organizations like New York Edge.
“We want to make an impact in the community and foster children,” Bove said. “We want to develop students’ skills.”
P.S. 121 student Glensford Joseph participated in the dessert round of the competition after cheering on his teammates in the entree round. The elementary school student said he used to watch his mom cook and then learned cooking skills in the Food Explorers program. Glensford’s favorite part of cooking is being creative with his recipes and trying new things.
“[We’ll win] by using strategy, teamwork and sportsmanship,” Glensford said. Glensford’s team, 121X, won the competition with their inventive creations: “chickpea stir fry” and “minty deluxe.” Both the entree and the dessert incorporated the three surprise ingredients the team found in their basket: chickpeas and swiss chard for the entree and mint for the dessert.
Jenna and Elizabeth are twins who go to P.S. 121. They participated on Team Fusion and received second place for their culinary works: Garlic and lemon hummus and mint chocolate covered strawberries. Though they both hoped to win, they said their main priority was to do their best. “Our strategy is to have a lot of sportsmanship,” Jenna said.
Conn said the annual competition is a time to teach the students collaboration, brainstorming and creativity. The judges were shocked by the skills of the young chefs, and Conn said in the closing ceremony that it was the most impressive “Battle of the Basket” yet.
