Three Salem area schools swept the top three spots at the first-annual Oregon Coast Invitational high school cooking competition last weekend at Southwestern Oregon Community College Oregon Coast Culinary Institute.
South Salem High wrapped up first place in the seven-team competition Saturday. West Salem wound up finishing second and McKay High third. Team members on the first-place South Salem team each received $2,000 scholarships to OCCI. West Salem team members each received $1,500 scholarships and the McKay teammates each earned $1,000 scholarships. Along with the individual OCCI scholarships for the students, South Salem High will receive $500, West Salem $400 and McKay $300 to purchase culinary arts equipment.
Participating four-member teams included representatives from Myrtle Point, Hidden Valley and St. Helens high schools, along with a second team from South Salem. Each four-member team had 90 minutes to prepare a three-course meal for four, featuring seafood as the protein for the entrée. The rest of the meal included an appetizer or salad and dessert. Judges from local restaurants and OCCI – along with Changzhou Institute of Technology Chef Pan Guoqing from China – critiqued and scored the dishes.