The Oakland Community College Student Culinary Team won first place and a gold medal at the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Central Region Competition held March 25-27 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The team’s Triumph comes on the heels of a first-place victory at the ACF State of Michigan Student Team Competition held in Grand Rapids, February 24.

“The regional competition involved nine top teams from as far away as Texas and Nebraska” said Chef Susan Baier, OCC Culinary Studies Institute coordinator.  “Ours is also the only ACF gold medal to be awarded (so far) this year” she added.

To win the competition the OCC team had to excel in four areas – cold buffet, a four-course dinner, dessert, and by a demonstration of skills in areas such as butchering and vegetable cutting according to OCC’s Chef Kevin Enright, the team’s manager.

“This is a totally dedicated group – the best I’ve seen in the 13 years I’ve been at OCC” Enright said.

The final step for the OCC team will be the ACF National Competition, to be held in Orlando, Florida in July.

The student members of the team and their hometowns are:

·        Bradley Ball – Novi

·        John Clements – Waterford

·        Elizabeth Kallio – Redford

·        Kathryn Szczerba – Troy

·        Norman Valenti – Clawson

      OCC Culinary Studies Institute graduate Tammy Gauthier of Novi served as the team’s coach.

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