Photo By Staff Sgt. Youtoy Martin | Members of Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Culinary Arts Field Team receive feedback of...... read more read more
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Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington – With the 43rd Annual Joint Culinary Training Exercise quickly approaching, the JBLM Culinary Arts Field Team displayed dishes and served members from their command teams and other guests 4-course meals during a final preparation luncheon Feb. 22.
The luncheon served as training for culinary tasks the team will face in the upcoming competition at Fort Lee, Virginia March 8-16. It also gave the command teams the opportunity to see the progress their Soldiers have made over the past few months.
After placing third last year in the Best Installation category, this year’s culinary team is working overtime to match or surpass that, aiming for gold. Installation Culinary Instructor and Team Advisor Staff Sgt. Marc Susa said he hopes the team’s hard work and extra time in the kitchen pay off at the competition.
“They have been working long hours, 6-day schedules that can range from 12 to 16 hour days,” said Susa. “It can be rough for these Soldiers, but I think they will come out on top at the end of the day.”
While there are no returning members from last year’s team, Susa is confident the ingredients needed to bring home the gold are within this year’s team.
Susa brings a wealth of experience in culinary competitions having been a part of the gold-winning Fort Hood Culinary team in 2013. He also competed for Team USA’s military team at the Annual Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA) International Culinary Exhibition, known in cooking circles as the “Culinary Olympics”.
Susa said he is especially looking forward to the student team consisting of junior enlisted personnel and their performance. He believes they will be the “X-factor” in medalling for installation of the year.
The best installation winner is based on a cumulative score from team and individual events in eight categories some of which include Armed Forces Chef of the Year, Student Chef of the Year and Military Hot Food Kitchen.
The lone Air Force member on the team, Airman 1st Class Italia Sampson, of Force Support Squadron, 627th Air Base Group is scheduled to be one of the junior enlisted to compete in an individual event.
The Cambridge, Maryland native said she is still working to refine the pastry dish she plans to submit in the competition, and has been humbled by the whole experience of the culinary team.
“The fact that you get to bond with your team, realize that sometimes you do have to rely on other people and you don’t know everything – basically humbling yourself – I feel is a really good thing,” said Sampson.
She added that before joining the team, she thought she knew a lot about food and cooking, but culinary fine dining was a whole different world.
For team captain, Staff Sergeant Paula Sanchez with Headquarter and Headquarters Company, 593rd Expedition Sustainment Command, joining the team revealed culinary arts as one of her hidden talents. Serving in the Army almost 14-years, this was her first time being apart of a culinary team, she said.
Sanchez said she, like Suza, believes the junior service members will be the driving force to securing an installation medal and win their events in the military competition.
“I feel the team has a really good chance of winning installation,” said Sanchez. “The students’ hearts are in it. They are all very motivated and with every run-through they just keep getting better and better. I feel really confident about our student team winning and possible going to nationals.”
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.01.2018 19:08 |
| Story ID: | 267808 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Hometown: | CAMBRIDGE, MD, US |
| Hometown: | LONG ISLAND, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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