The Tucson Meet Yourself Healthy Iron Chef competition was the best yet. The event started four years ago to recognize the Chef and Child foundation Childhood Nutrition day on October 16th. The kitchen set up was first class due to the generosity of Arizona Restaurant Supply (with Mike Murphy) and Rational Ovens International (with Chef Al Zeman and David Courtney of Courtney Marketing). They supplied all the equipment and the small wares which were beautifully displayed in the new home site of the Kitchen stadium behind the Hotel Arizona in La Placita village thanks to the dynamic leadership of Mia Hansen, coordinator for the Tucson Meet Yourself. It was bigger and more organized than ever before. The food for the event was provided through the generosity of the Dairy Council, Red Bird farms, Shamrock foods, Tucson Meet Yourself, the ACF Chefs Association of Southern Arizona. Cielo Roja Bacanora was donated as well for use by the professionals.

Elizabeth Mikesell of Pima College organized the Iron chef event with the help of Alan Zeman and Mario Diaz de Sandy. Money raised at the kitchen stadium will be used to establish scholarship funds for C-CAP and for childhood nutrition for the ACF Chef and Child foundation.

The schools competing included: Canyon del Oro high school, Santa Rita High School, Ironwood Ridge high school, Sahuarita High School, Catalilna High School, Marana High School and Pima Community College. There were three professional events: The very first Iron chef women’s event featuring Maria Mezon of Boca restaurant and Tamara Stempel of Oro Valley country club. The Iron chef men’s featuring defending champion Ryan Clark versus Albert Hall of Acacia restaurant, and an event featuring Arizona’s two master chefs presenting a demonstration of cuisines of China and Germany titled “East meets West”. Morrison Health with regional chef Joe Kraft and his staff kicked off the event on Friday and Saturday with “Flavors 450” showing recipes under 450 calories that they use in the hospitals they service.

The winners of the competitions were as follows:
Friday, October 14, 2011
4:00pm Canyon del Oro 1 vs. Santa Rita 1 Canyon del Oro won
6:00pm Canyon del Oro 2 vs Santa Rita 2 Canyon del Oro won
8:00pm Pro women Iron chef Maria Mezon of Boca won

Saturday, October 15, 2011
2:00pm Pima Asian vs. Ironwood Ridge Pima won
4:00pm Pima A vs. Pima B Pima A won
6:00pm Bill Sy and Walter Leible of Ai No contest
8:00pm Pro men Iron chef Albert Hall of Acacia won

Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sahuarita vs. Marana 1 Sahuarita won
Catalina vs. Marana 2 Marana won

Thanks to Jill Smith of C-CAP and Mike Murphy of Arizona Restaurant for supplying books and kitchen equipment as prizes and thanks to Jameela Norton of Tucson Meet Yourself for providing certificates for the participating teams.

We had an amazingly talented corps of judges. For the evaluation of nutritional content for the High school and college competitions we had a judge, Janet Taylor, who is an expert on nutrition and has written 3 nutrition specific cookbooks. The remainder of our judges included chef Adam Buzzalini of Maynard’s, chef Jesse Bright of Sol casinos, chef Barry Infuso of Pima College, chef Shayne Spradlin of Canyon Ranch health spa, Dr. Dolores Rivas Bahti of the University of Arizona, Chef Alan Zeman, regional chef for Rational, chef Elizabeth Mikesell of Pima college, chef Tavel Bristol, corporate chef for Hacienda del Sol, chef Aris Cabrera of the Doubletree hotel, chef Ellen Fenster of Chantilly tea room, Chef John Wirtis of Caridad community school, chef Jan Osipowicz of the Hilton El Conquistador resort, chef Ramon Delgado of Desert Diamond casinos, chef Tori Christie current consultant, chef Todd Eanes of the Art Institute, Chef David Sullivan of the Art Institute and chef Anna of the Art Institute. Emcees were led by Chef Mario Diaz de Sandy with local television personality Jessica Chapin on Saturday afternoon and chefs association manager Jeanie Merideth, and Gina Marie on Friday evening.