Fully Consumed: The Sweetness Of 4-H Favorite Foods Day

O’NEALS — Some days I love my job more than others, and last Saturday was certainly one of those special days.

It was my pleasure to be one of the many volunteer judges for this year’s Madera County 4-H Favorite Foods Day, when nearly one hundred young club members from around the area entered their recipes and displays into a competition that was fierce and, as it turns out, delicious!

The scene was Minarets High School, where one large room was dedicated to food and table settings. More than a dozen judges gathered to taste and carefully rate the delectable choices covering every available flat space. This is a well-oiled event, no pun intended, with Coarsegold 4-H’s longtime and absolutely indispensable coordinator Pat Strimling volunteering her talents once again to ensure the day would run smoothly.

With District 5 Supervisor Tom Wheeler and partner Leslie Stevens making up two-thirds of my three-person team of judges, I was in good and experienced hands. Sheriff Jay Varney was one of the judges, too, a position he looks forward to annually. Hey, these are the real rewards of public service.

Fifteen categories make up this food and baking competition: dairy foods, cookies, cakes, breads, appetizers, pastries, candies, healthy/diet foods, international foods, made-from-mix, entree/main dish, decorated food, salads, place setting, and mini-member.

Entries are judged on flavor, texture, appearance, display, and completeness of recipe. Special awards are given for categories including including beef, lamb, pork, raisins, almonds, goat, poultry, candy, salad, and educational theme.

For each entry in the blindly-judged competition, we were charged with giving up to 25 points and, fork and bowl firmly in hand, we set about to eat our way through our first category, fittingly: main dishes.

Here’s just some of what we consumed, in no particular order: chili, barbecued tri-tip, spaghetti casserole, creamed chicken with dumplings, beef stew, tamales, macaroni and cheese, a cheesy artichoke dish, and albondigas soup showcasing meatballs made with a cup-and-a-half of crushed Doritos. That last one was a real hit, as you might imagine. Doritos make everything better, sorry to say.

Digesting the full implication of my responsibility at this point, and despite the Supervisor’s warning to just eat little bits (I thought I had), a slightly queasy feeling came over me — but our work wasn’t done and I was forced to soldier on.

Once we finished dissecting, tasting, discussing, and judging the main courses, we returned to our organizers for another category assignment. This time, it was pastries. I literally rolled up my sleeves, cleared my palate with ice water, and determined not to let these dedicated 4-H members down by failing to complete — that is, eat — the entire mission.

Now, it was cheese cake, chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes, orange pie, berry pie, and whoopie pie. There was more, and all of it was tasty and attractive, but at this point the sugar was consuming me and that’s about all I remember until it was time for our third round.

Thankfully, for this assignment, we needed only to judge with our eyes, as the final category for our team of three was decorated foods, where we graded the clever and creative application of frosting, sprinkles, color and texture to a host of delightful desserts. Place settings and decorated foods are judged on: proper setting, attractiveness, originality, menu to coordinate occasion, appearance, creativity, color, design suitable for purpose. The effort was remarkably impressive.

For me, an amateur baker with #goals and ambitions, cakes were the thing. From the unicorns with their rainbow interior, to the Perfectly Pink Cake reminiscent of a doily valentine, the entries were lovingly adorned. On the farthest table were three stand-outs: a smooth chocolate cake suitable for any restaurant and dressed with roses and fitted with manzanita knife, a delectable layer cake topped with chocolate-covered strawberries, and a wildly-colored striped and glazed cake spiked with stained glass-like gems made from melted candy. Wowza.

The mood in our room was festive as judges meandered about with styro bowls and paper cups, plastic forks and spoons, tasting and talking, laughing and rubbing our bellies as we compared the tastes and textures and rendered pro tips to one another (try the albondigas). Meanwhile, outside the room, things were really heating up.

I looked over at the locked door where, on the other side, scores of 4-H’ers clamored to enter. Three girls, in particular, had their faces so close to the thin vertical window between the hallway and the classroom that they were nearly swept away when it came time to exit. It turns out, those three were part of the well-represented Spring Valley 4-H, and dying to hear how their cakes had done. It turns out, they were the enthusiastic bakers behind the three cakes I mentioned earlier.

And it’s not just the youth that were excited. This is one of those events where you can easily tell the experienced parents from the beginners: the former had set up their chairs in the hallway, and coolers, and iPads, and were comfortably enjoying the day stretching out before them, even as their children anxiously awaited the moment when they would be allowed back into the big room to consume their results.

Ribbon or no-ribbon, it’s worth noting that all of the members who entered the competition are probably learning to love something important and wonderful that most Americans no longer like to do: that is, cook.

According to a study published in the Harvard Business Review, some 90 percent of people surveyed don’t like to cook — and it’s costing them thousands of extra dollars every year in prepared, takeout and restaurant meals. Meanwhile, Spring Valley’s Ada Miller is starting her own endeavor; look for I Ada Cupcake and her wares near you. Take that, Harvard Business Journal.

All of these commendable 4-H kids, their parents and their leaders, are undoubtedly the cream of the crop — pun intended.

Before I could get a days-end photograph of all the winners and participants together, they were called to their tables to eat the rewards of their efforts, a frenzied and free-for-all-feeding, well-deserved.

I thought I would never eat again. Two hours after I returned home, I was munching on the Kettle Corn we judges were gifted for our hard work. Hopefully, I’ve secured my judging spot for next year, now that I know the drill. Thanks, 4-H!

More photos are available to view here on Sierra News Online’s Facebook page.

Here the winners by category, place, name and club. Special thanks to Laurie L. Fringer, University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources 4-H Program of Madera County:

	Madera County Favorite Foods Day Main Category Awards 2019
#	Categories	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1	Dairy Foods	Katie Ylarregui	Hunter William-Smith
	Club	Howard 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
2	Cookies	Leah Dendesian	Adeline Fouch	Griffin William-Smith
	Club	Spring Valley 4-H	Coarsegold 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
3	Cakes	Macie Webster	Avery Ryan	Ada Miller
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Spring Valley 4-H	Spring Valley 4-H
4	Breads	Colie Tickel	Bailey Herring	N/A
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Chowchilla 4-H	N/A
5	Appetizers	Delaney Rocca	Taryn Rosenthal	N/A
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H	N/A
6	Pastries	Taryn Rosenthal	Griffin William-Smith	Tyler Rosenthal
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
7	Candies	Katherine Hauschel	Micah Lee	Julia Fruge
	Club	Sierra Shadows	Sierra Shadows	Sierra Shadows
8	Healthy/Diet Goodies	Katie Ylarregui	N/A	N/A
	Club	Howard 4-H	N/A	N/A
9	International Foods	Griffin William-Smith	Nixon Gilbert	Nixon Gilbert
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Chowchilla 4-H	Chowchilla 4-H
10	Made from Mix	Griffin William-Smith	John Dudley	Savannah Hieger
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Raymond 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
11	Entrée/Main Dish	Thomas Dudley	Katie Ylarregui	Nixon Gilbert
	Club	Raymond 4-H	Howard 4-H	Chowchilla 4-H
12	Decorated Food	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Club	N/A	N/A	N/A
13	Salad	Delaney Rocca	Katherine Hauschel	Julia Fruge
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
14	Place Setting-Holiday/Special Occassion Decorations	Savannah Hieger	Kiden Lynch	Jake Poore
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Coarsegold 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
15	Mini Member (ALL Certificates/Ribbons)
		Hailey Martinez
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
		Taylor Ward
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
		Lucy Lee
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
		Gianna Wagner
	Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
		Carolina Solis
	Club	Dixieland 4-H
		Ian Rodriguez
	Club	Dixieland 4-H

Madera County Favorite Foods Day Special Category Results for Year 2019
Special Categories	1st	2nd	3rd
Almonds	Colie Tickel
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
Beef	Hunter William-Smith	Katie Ylarregui
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Howard 4-H
Candy	Katherine Hauschel
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
Dairy Foods	Griffin William-Smith	Katie Ylarregui
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Howard 4-H
Decorated Food/Holiday Special Occasion Decorations	Cassie Hansen
Club	Spring Valley 4-H
Educational Award	Katie Ylarregui	Sara Lynch	0
Club	Howard 4-H	Coarsegold 4-H	0
Goat	N/A	N/A
Club
Lamb	Brooklyn Tharp
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
Place Setting	Savannah Hieger
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
Pork	Thomas Dudley
Club	Raymond 4-H
Poultry	Jake Poore	Katherine Hauschel
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
Raisin	Delaney Rocca
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H
Salad	Katherine Hauschel
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H

Consumer Science	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Junior	Julia Fruge	Makenzie Ward	Aiden Lynch
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Coarsegold 4-H
Intermediate	Sara Lynch	Lailha Killion	Thomas Dudley
Club	Coarsegold 4-H	Dixieland 4-H	Raymond 4-H
Senior	Devyn Johnson	Alyssa Hernandez	Abigail LaSpada
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Coarsegold 4-H
Primary	Hailey Martinez	Taylor Ward	N/A
(Green Ribbon) Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H	N/A

Madera County Favorite Foods Day Showmanship Results for Year 2019
Showmanship	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Junior	Aiden Lynch	Tyler Rosenthal	Katherine Hauschel
Club	Coarsegold 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
Intermediate	Cayla Williams	Sara Lynch	Thomas Dudley
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Coarsegold 4-H	Raymond 4-H
Senior	Alyssa Roma-Hernandez	Bree Williams	Emily Waldren
Club	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H	Sierra Shadows 4-H
Primary	Hailey Martinez	N/A	N/A
Club	Sierra Shadows	N/A	N/A