Students in the Career and Technical Institute’s Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management program are used to tackling all kinds of challenges in the kitchen. Whether they are designing custom meal plans, strategizing around different preferences and conquering ingredient substitutions. Recently, they tackled a new hurdle: the MRE Challenge.
The MRE Challenge is a popular activity where culinary students take a military meal known as an MRE, or Meal Ready to Eat, and transform it into a delicious dish.
National Guard Sgts. Rafael Manfredy and Yulisbeth Reyes joined the class to share everything they knew about MREs. These military rations usually contain a protein-focused entree, a side, a spread, a treat, an electrolyte beverage and a heat pack. Designed to be compact and durable, MREs contain more than 1,200 calories and are packaged to withstand harsh conditions.
“You can tell the students who did this last year have a more strategic approach,” shared Sergeant Reyes. “I’m excited to taste everything and see what they can come up with.”
The meal components ranged from sausage to tuna salad to beef patties. These were transformed by the students into upgraded versions of the items or into completely different dishes. One group made the sausage more flavorful and improved the texture by reducing the fat. Another group turned their tuna into tangy fish tacos.
One group was not sure where to start and was having trouble brainstorming. They decided to taste everything in their MRE packets and were able to come up with multiple ideas using what they knew about balancing different flavors.
After the students presented their dishes to the judges (both guests from the National Guard and three of their teachers), the dishes were tasted and scored on aspects such as appearance, taste and creativity. The judges tallied their scores and announced group five as the winners of the MRE Challenge.
“The students did such a great job with this and it looked like so much fun,” said Amanda Scoca, Culinary Arts teacher. “We want to participate next year and compete with the students.”
Group five members Kenan Oflu, Ella Watkins, Marley Bennett and Donavyn Greenhaw received National Guard backpacks as trophies.
