The sixth annual 4-H Youth Super Chef Competition, which brings out teams of students competing to prepare meals using only provided ingredients, will take place Oct. 20 on the St. Croix campus of the University of the Virgin Islands as part of World Food Day activities, according to UVI.
The day will also include a “Melon Spree Competition” and workshops focusing on avocados, cucurbits (in the melon family), butternut squash and aquaculture systems for the U.S. Virgin Islands. Workshop participants will get free samples of dishes featuring these crops. Free vegetable seedlings will also be distributed.
A court for food vendors, a farmers market and petting zoo are planned, along with tours of UVI’s Agricultural Experiment Station field facilities. Entertainment will include music by the Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra, the UVI Albert Sheen Campus Band and DJ Porter, with performances by the Guardians of Culture mocko jumbies and St. Croix Martial Arts.
The entrance fee is a nonperishable food item for the day’s food drive. Donations will be provided to local food banks.
Festivities run from noon to 6 p.m.
World Food Day brings attention to the plight of the hungry and undernourished in the territory and the world. It also provides an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the complex solutions required to reduce hunger. World Food Day is observed throughout the world each year on Oct. 16.
World Food Day is sponsored by UVI’s Cooperative Extension Service, the UVI Agricultural Experiment Station and the V.I. Department of Agriculture, with help from Plaza Extra and Home Depot.
