Scarlet to Black Program to Host Food Cart Conference and Competition
JONESBORO – The Scarlet to Black program at Arkansas State University will host its Arkansas Food Cart Conference and Competition on Tuesday, March 12, from 8:45 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.“We have 12 schools bringing a total of 214 third through sixth graders, who will make up 73 different teams,” said Dr. Philip Tew, director of Scarlet to Black.This event is the product of another program developed to help elementary students learn healthy eating goals while learning about food costs.
In 2021, Scarlet to Black received a grant from the Arkansas Biosciences Institute for an after-school program that operated four days a week for two years. Students in first through sixth grades learned about healthy eating and financial budgeting, in “Eating Healthy, Getting Wealthy,” led by five college students who tried to make learning fun.
The food truck competition takes the same premise to help young students understand the concepts.Around 25 A-State student volunteers will lead the workshops.
Teams submitted written business plans, recipe cards detailing their ingredients and nutritional values, business logos, and a “Food Network”-style video where students demonstrated making the recipes they would have at their food truck.
“In the competition portion, students will have created a healthy food item, or a healthier alternative food item, to be ‘sold’ at their food cart,” said Tew, who is an associate professor of finance.
Ahead of the competition, seven people judged the four different categories and the teachers of the top five entries in two age categories were notified.“Those teams will bring their food the day of the conference, and do a live presentation of their ‘TV show’ and have the judges try their food,” said Tew.The celebrity judges this year include: Dr. Jim Washam, dean of the Neil Griffin College of Business; Aaron Bell, Jonesboro market president at First Security Bank; Jeffrey Higgins, owner of restaurants JTowns Girll, The Social and Munchy’s; Michael Wonderly, Sodexo general manager; and Hailey Hawkins, MBA student and former manager of the “Eating Healthy, Getting Wealthy” program.
In addition to the competition, students will participate in a series of interactive workshops about budgeting and healthy food and meals.“By participating in this project, in addition to learning about nutrition and healthy eating, students have learned about teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, and budgeting,” added Tew.
Student participants at the 2023 Arkansas Food Cart Conference and Competition.
