Natural product entrepreneurs and chefs to compete in Real School Food Challenge

BOULDER — The leaders of area natural food companies are teaming up with local chefs for the “Real School Food Challenge,” where the teams will compete with self-created recipes that cost just $1.25 — the average budget per serving of a school lunch in the U.S.

The natural products leaders are competing with their “sous chefs”  — some of whom are local chefs and others are other natural products entrepreneurs or social impact leaders — live on Thursday night, where they will be judged on taste, appearance and scalability. The competition is hosted by the Chef Ann Foundation and the winner may be featured in its national school food recipe database. Each recipe must meet USDA requirements.

The competing teams and their recipes are:

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• Robbie Vitrano of Good Spread with Kelly Whitaker of Basta, making teriyaki-kissed apple chicken meatball pops with cheesy house-milled rice grits and corn fritters
• Lizzi Ackerman and Matt LaCasse of Birch Benders, making carnitas tacos with matticita rice and backcountry beans
• Ben Fenton of Boulder Food Group with Catherine Compitello of the Beacon Fund, making butternut squash mac & cheese
• Miche Bacher of Zhuzh! with Daniel Asher of River & Woods, making Chinese stir-fry sliders
• Justin Gold of Justin’s with Hosea Rosenberg of Blackbelly/ Santo, making sweet potato and spinach enchiladas
• Beata Pablan of the Jackfruit Co. with Alan Murray of Goodbelly, making jackfruit chilli

The event is being held to bring attention to how 30 million children eat school lunches — more than a quarter million in Colorado — and the challenges schools have feeding students healthy meals at just $1.25 per child. The Real School Food Challenge is meant to show that it is possible to create real recipes that taste great on such a budget.

The event will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. today at Sterling Rice Group’s test kitchen event space at 1801 13th St. in Boulder. Tickets are available for purchase online.