
Melissa Evans, Samantha Katharine Hudon-Sue, Michelle McAllen, Janine Sumner Traverse, and Joel Carta
Pear Bureau Northwest is pleased to announce the
National Grand Prize Winner in the 2014 USA Pears Pear Excellence Canadian Culinary Student Recipe Competition
recently held at
The Dirty Apron Cooking School in Vancouver.
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Grand Prize Winner
Michelle McAllen
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Michelle McAllen, a 18-year-old student from New Brunswick Community College – St. Andrews,
representing the Maritimes Region, won top honors from the judges with her dish,
Fresh and Cured with Compliments of Pear.
The judges noted that the recipe looked amazing, had great flavor, and showcased the versatile pear in a variety of excellent uses.
Michelle’s worthy competitors were:
Melissa Evans, Vancouver Island University, representing the British Columbia/Northwest Territories region
Janine Sumner Traverse, Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, Red River College representing the Prairies region
Samantha Katharine Hudon-Sue from LaSalle College, representing the Québec region
Joel Carta from Centennial College – Progress Campus, representing the Ontario region
Click here to view all the winning recipes!
The members of the final judging event’s prestigious judging panel were
Anya Levykh (Food Columnist, CBC On The Coast),
David Robertson (Chef and Owner, The Dirty Apron Cooking School),
Trevor Bird (Chef and Owner, Fable Kitchen),
and Joe Chow (Sales Manager, The Produce Terminal).
The student competitors won an all-expenses-paid trip to Vancouver to compete in the national competition.
First prize earned $2,500, and the remaining students each took home a $1,000 cash award to recognize their earning regional titles.
In addition, food writers and bloggers were there to capture the action behind-the-scenes and before the judges, so the students earned media exposure as well.
Twitter was used to dispatch play-by-play updates from @USApears live during the finals with the tag #PearExcellence.
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