Competition cooks up
Excitement and exotic smells filled the air Monday night as students battled an Iron Chef.
More than 250 people flocked to the Bovee University Center for an Iron Chef competition, one of many events celebrating Asian Heritage Month.
Five teams of two were given 30 minutes to cook a unique dish to try and rival Ming Xu, Grand Rapids senior and designated Iron Chef.
As time wound down, crowd intensity and excitement picked up, an atmosphere the judges noticed.
“Can we just get a big takeout box and put it all in there?” said Rachel Weingartz, Brighton freshman and contest judge. “That would be great.”
After a long deliberation, judges announced a tie for first place between the teams of Carie Wolfe and Ann McLaughlin, workers at Real Food on Campus, and Petersburg senior Alex Osborn and Mendon senior Mia Jones.
McLaughlin and Wolfe made a soup and salad combination with a sweet, spicy and tangy sauce, while Osborn and Jones chose to make a gumbo.
“We just came up with it on the spot,” Osborn said. “We didn’t have a goal of winning.”
Macomb senior Ryan Makowski and Sterling Heights senior Mike Zeig, who cook four times a week, also competed.
They said they were nervous because they never had cooked in front of an audience.
“The girlfriends usually say everything is good, but these people are really judging us,” Zeig said.
Flint sophomore Detrone Turner watched as Makowski and Zeig cooked.
“This one (Makowski and Zeig) is my favorite because they are creative,” Turner said. “They look like they are having fun at what they are doing.”
Marie Tam, Sterling Heights senior and Asian Cultural Organization president, was happy with Monday’s turnout.
“We were worried a lot about response because we knew there are a lot of people who love to cook,” Tam said. “We didn’t know if they would come out in front of an audience to be judged.”
Because there were 15 entries and only six cooking stations available, a drawing before the competition determined the contestants.
Fraser senior Bill Merecki was left out even though he said he and his girlfriend were the very first people to sign up Tuesday.
“It’s terrible,” Merecki said. “I really wanted to do it because we would have won.”
Tam said they had to figure out a way everyone would have an equal chance, so the drawing was the best way.
“We wanted to be fair in the competition because we had a lot of late entries,” she said. “People who couldn’t cook had the opportunity to be judges.”
