Photo By RYAN SHARP | The U.S. Coast Guard culinary team accepts the award from Col. Erin Miller,...... read more read more
FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. – For the fourth time, the U.S. Coast Guard was recognized as the Culinary Team of the Year and 212 American Culinary Federation (ACF) medals were awarded to more than 150 military chefs at the 49th annual Joint Culinary Training Event (JCTE) awards ceremony March 10 here.
JCTE started Feb. 28 and continued through Mar. 5 with the culmination of the Enlisted Aide Live Challenge. The exercise, administered by the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence, is the largest ACF-sanctioned competition in North America. This year’s exercise showcased the talent of military chefs from all military services around the globe to include three international teams.
” Over the last week, each one of our competitors challenged themselves under the pressure of their fellow competitors, the clock-- and the very accomplished ACF chefs that served as this year’s judges," said Col. Erin Miller, commandant, U.S. Army Quartermaster School. "Regardless of nationality or branch of service—all that participated should be proud of all they accomplished here.”
This year, 16 teams trained and competed in 291 cooking entries from all five service branches and three countries. Seven teams vied for Culinary Team of the Year with U.S. Navy team as the runner up to U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Coast Guard student team was recognized as the best team with all five members having less than two years in culinary arts; Sgt. Oscar Cardona, Headquarters U.S. Army, Pentagon, won best Armed Forces Chef; Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Tyler Patton, Coast Guard, won best student chef; Sgt. Shanea Benner, U.S. Army Reserves, was recognized as the pastry chef of the year; and Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Tami Martinez, Navy, was recognized as the student pastry chef of the year. Coast Guard student team, Cardona, Patton, Benner, and Martinez are now eligible to attend the ACF National Convention & Show July 27-31 in Las Vegas.
“I’m just so happy for team. They worked so hard,” said Culinary Specialist 1st Class Raymond Filippi, team captain, U.S. Coast Guard. “We put in 20 days of practice then competition. We laid it all on the line. I’m so proud how they persevered and won.” The team of 10 Coast Guardsmen is from various locations across the United States and joined together to compete.
Four countries -- United States, France, Germany, and Great Britain -- participated in the international challenge with Team France coming out victorious.
Competing chefs were judged based on ACF guidelines, they were not competing against each other but against industry standards. Those who exceeded industry standards were given medals – 67 gold medals, 81 silver medals and 64 bronze medals were presented to military chefs who met the judging criteria.
The awardees were:
Culinary Team of the Year:
U.S. Coast Guard
Runner up: U.S. Navy
Armed Forces Chef of the Year:
Sgt. Oscar Cardona, Headquarters U.S. Army
Armed Forces Student Chef of the Year – under two years experience:
Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Tyler Patton, Coast Guard
Enlisted Aide of the Year:
Master Sgt. Desiree Economides, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa. Economides serves as the enlisted aide to Gen. James B. Hecker, commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe; commander, U.S. Air Forces Africa; commander, Allied Air Command, headquartered at Ramstein Air Base, Germany; and director, Joint Air Power Competence Centre, Kalkar, Germany.
Student Team Competition – five-person team with under two years experience:
Team U.S. Coast Guard
International Team of the Year:
Team France
Operational Hot Food Kitchen – 10-person team utilizing an Army mobile kitchen trailer and an assault kitchen, preparing a five-course meal for 50 guests using operational rations:
Team U.S. Navy
Nutritional Hot Food Challenge – celebrates National Nutrition Month with a four-course meal under 1,000 calories:
Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Lindsay Peck and Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Allen Gonzales, U.S. Coast Guard
Pastry Chef of the Year
Sgt. Shanea Benner, U.S. Army Reserves
Student Pastry Chef of the Year – under two years experience
Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Tami Martinez, Navy
Best Exhibit (Categories A,B,C, Cold Food Display):
Culinary Specialist 1st Class Harley Beaulieu. U.S. Coast Guard
Best Exhibit in Show (Cat. D, Culinary Showpiece):
Sgt. Joselin Sanchez Astorga, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Best Team Display Table
Team U.S. Navy
Competing service members are afforded the opportunity to earn ACF certifications, a recognized industry-standard credential. These credentials help the chefs provide better service to their customers in the dining facilities, as well as acceptance in the civilian sector when the service member transitions out of the military.
Photos of the exercise can be found at https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/CASCPA and https://www.flickr.com/photos/scoe_cascom/albums.
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.14.2025 10:46 |
| Story ID: | 492859 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 45 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Top Chefs goes to Coast Guard, by Dani Johnson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
