Students' Award-Winning Burrito Could Be Worth $55,000

VALRICO, FL – What kind of burrito is worth $55,000?

The answer is a burrito that wins the USDA Food and Nutrition Services Southeast Regional Jr. Chef Competition.

After winning the Fresh From Florida Student Chef Cook-Off competition in Tallahassee in January for their burrito recipe, Bloomingdale High School seniors Gigi Rivera and Tony Alvarez are preparing to go on to national competition in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 9 where they will compete with other student chefs from around the country.

On the line are scholarships from Sullivan University in Kentucky worth an estimated $55,000.

If Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Jeff Eakins has anything to say about it, Alvarez and Rivera’s “T&G’s Burrito” is worth every penny of that $55,000 scholarship.

Under the direction of Bloomingdale culinary arts teacher Chef Rene Marquis, the students recently prepared their award-winning burrito for Eakins and other school officials.

As state winners, their burrito will be served in school cafeterias across Florida. They also received a $1,000 Florida 529 Savings Plan and a day in the kitchen with celebrity chef Art Smith.have

This is the second time Rivera has won the state competition. Last year she won for her taco recipe.

“Each year, this competition just gets better and better,” said Rivera. “We did the local, and then we did the regionals, we did the state, and now we’re going to the actual (cook-off) against everybody.”

This is the first year for the USDA Food and Nutrition Services Southeast Regional Jr. Chef Competition.

Marquis is confident of her students’ ability to win the national competition.

“They’re not going to lose,” she said. “We’re going to continue practicing.”

The junior chefs will be judged on taste, appearance, creativity, use of local ingredients, use of USDA foods, whether the recipe is School Nutrition Program appropriate, food safety, general nutrition knowledge, execution and teamwork. Rivera believes they’ll be ready.

Alvarez said the key to their burrito’s flavor is no secret.

“Our burrito has pork; sour different types of pepper: green pepper, red pepper, yellow pepper and orange pepper; and it’s got black beans and pinto beans. It has a nice seasoning with sazon, adobo and curry. The difference, I think, not too many burritos you find that are curry,” Alvarez said.

Competition organizers said the goal is to inspire students to be involved in the creation of healthier eating habits, stimulate interest in locally produced agriculture in Child Nutrition Programs, and increase consumption of healthier products in school meals.

Marquis believes it’s also creating the next-generation of talented chefs. “I would put these two culinary students against any culinary student in the nation,” Marquis said.

Images via Hillsborough County School District