"Are you getting the sizzle?"
The weekly Farmer's Market in Berlin, MD added a new event to their hosting resume. Forget the usual shopping trip; what happened on August 10th was a full on culinary showdown. The air was buzzing with energy as five local chefs competed for the golden ticket to the World Food Championships and a shot at a massive prize of $150,000. For Delmarva Public Media, I'm Jenny O'Connor.
"So this morning during the Berlin Farmer's Market, we are having the Chefs Challenge for chance to go to the World Championship competition."
That's Ivy Wells. She's the director of Economic and Community Development for the town of Berlin, and the mind behind bringing the Chef's competition to the Berlin Farmer's Market this year. The competition is inspired by the show "Guy's Grocery Games," and the five chefs had to use ingredients from the farmer's market, including a protein from a local farmer, and three other ingredients. These factors made prepping for the competition difficult for the chefs. Toby Gilbert of Berlin's Gilbert's Provisions said a lot of the thinking was on the fly because so many factors were up in the air.
"Alright, we got to figure out what veggies we're going to have, what proteins we're going to have, what is the weather going to be like? What are people going to really want?"
Soon all the chefs had arrived and set up their stations, including Justine Zegna from Blacksmith Restaurant, Toby Gilbert from Gilbert's Provisions, Yancy Carapico from Cap'ns Slice, Brandon Juarez from the Sterling Tavern and Josh Morrison from Roadie Joe's, Berlin. At 10 o'clock sharp, they were off to the races. The first 15 minutes flew by with chefs running through the crowded streets and sweating over their portable stoves in the intense sun, chopping, seasoning, and frying up their creation and only inches from their workspace were crowds of people cheering, asking questions, "what kind of cheese are you using?" and trying to help.
"Got good handwriting? Pastrami cured yellow thin tuna." To no avail. "Oh my God, who can spell pastrami?" But mostly watching, no pressure there. "It's kind of like being in an aquarium."
And luckily people were there when Chef Morrison got his finger on fire and to ask every five minutes, what's going on? "What are you making? What's the second layer? Is it a prep cake?"
But the chefs were checking in on each other. The comradery of the Berlin Chefs was prevalent and they were sharing kind words and ingredients. "I got Toby's bread, so he makes it fresh every day." And most chefs like Toby and Yancy were just there to have fun, just like their live audience. "Yeah, no pressure on this side either. I'm either going to make something they like or I'm not. It's fun. We're just out here, having fun. "
And Chef Zegna was basically teaching a cooking class the whole time, narrating every step of the way. "That's why I'm doing this in ribbons, because it'll marinate faster." Everyone knows time flies when you're having fun - before you knew it, the chefs were finishing up and Chef Carapico had a buzzer beating finish wiping the metaphorical and literal sweat off his forehead as the [clock hit 11]. And after all that excitement, it was time to wait and wait for an hour while the three surprise judges got to indulge in the delectable cuisine from Berlin's finest chefs and the chef's stomachs turned with anticipation. But finally over the microphone, the announcement was made.
"I'm happy to announce that our winner of our World Food Championship Golden Ticket in the chef category, the Berlin Farmer's Market, goes to Chef Justine."
And Justine Zegna will be on her way to the World Food Competition in October, and will be there to represent all of the other chefs in Berlin.
"I feel great. I had the most fun just cooking with my friends, who were the other chefs and chefs I really admire and love and I feel it's a team win. Absolutely a thousand percent team win."
While Justine is excited to compete in the World Food Competition in Indiana in October, here in Berlin, it's events like this that make the farmer's market one of the most sought after ways to spend your Sunday morning, here in America's coolest small town. You can get some artisanal lettuces and make some new friends. And in the end, isn't that what it's all about? For Delmarva Public Media, I'm Jenny O'Connor.
