Duluth East Culinary Students Prep for Statewide ProStart Competition

Two teams from Duluth East High School are heading to the Minnesota ProStart Invitational Culinary Competition for the second consecutive year, armed with a three-course menu featuring ahi tuna spring rolls, deconstructed lamb stew, and a Greek cheesecake with pistachio crust — and they'll have to pull it off without running water or electricity.

Culinary Arts Instructor Adam Wisocki laid out the conditions his students will face at the statewide event. "The students get two butane burners, they get no running water, no electricity, and two eight-foot tables, and about an hour to cook. So it's kind of like a Chopped competition," Wisocki said.

The Minnesota ProStart Invitational draws the best young culinary talent from around 15 schools across the state. This year, Duluth East enters with two competing teams, an expansion from its debut appearance in the competition last year.

Team captain Ethan Christensen described the menu his squad has been refining as the competition approached. "One of them is an ahi tuna spring roll, which is our appetizer. The entrée it's a deconstructed lamb stew from the Middle East Greek area, and then we have a dessert which is a Greek cheesecake with pistachio crust and a lemon vanilla filling," Christensen said.

Christensen was candid about the pressure that comes with executing a complex menu under strict time constraints. "If you're not already pre-programmed and stuff, and have backlogs of things how to do them in case things come up, then your whole group can come to a halt, and then it's just in a really bad situation. But overall really stressful, but some of that stress does lead towards the fun," he said.

Wisocki framed the competition as something that goes beyond a trophy. "It not only introduces them to industry leaders, great chefs, but also that experience that as a high school student being able to be in this environment, in this high-paced industry, that they wouldn't necessarily get that opportunity unless they were actually working in this industry," he said.

Duluth East offers various cooking classes that give students hands-on preparation, but the ProStart Invitational puts those skills against a clock and a field of competitors from across Minnesota, with no kitchen conveniences to fall back on.