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April 16 the Battle of the Campus Chefs event started off with a bang as student groups and chefs paired up to compete for the title of “UVM Top Chef.” 

The teams presented an appetizer, entr??e or dessert to the panel of judges and audience. Their dishes were judged on the use of local food, creativity, presentation and difficulty. 

The event was a collaboration between UVM’s Sodexo Food Services and the Campus Kitchen at the University of Vermont. 

Senior Laura Galiher, partnership coordinator for Kampus Kitchen, was pleased with the event.

“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” Galiher said. “It helps us a lot with donations for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf and helps sustain our club.”

This is the fifth year Battle of the Campus Chefs has taken place, according to executive chef John Brandes, who organized the event. 

“[Battle of the Campus Chefs] is such a great program,” Brandes said. “It is really neat to see this event happening and the wonderful turnout.”

He did make some changes this year, including adding the people’s choice award for favorite dish and the inclusion of an a cappella group, UVM’s Zest, for entertainment while the crowd tasted the dishes. 

The student teams seemed to be excited about the challenge.

“We are really excited we came – we got paired with an awesome chef,” junior Becca Hopkins, a member of the pep band said. “As the pep band, we really like helping out and wanted to be a part of this in any way that we can.”

The crowd favorite went to the Harris/Millis chefs paired with the pep band. The first place prize went to the Brennan’s chefs paired with the SlowFood club, who were named “UVM Top Chefs.”

The Brennan’s chefs prepared pulled pork hush puppies with bacon-braised collard greens, and were excited about their win. 

“First place is huge – we have come in second two years in a row, but it’s not all about winning,” head chef at Brennan’s Jonathan Turner said. “It is nice to showcase something different that doesn’t always hit the menus.” 

To learn more about the Campus Kitchen, go to http://www.uvmbored.com/club/campus-kitchen-project.

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**The original article incorrectly referred to the Campus Kitchen project as “Kampus Kitchen”. The Vermont Cynic apologies for any confusion.