Gary Hoover and TrudyAnn Morrison represented RSU 21 in the Farm-to-School Cook-Off. Contributed / Matthew Shinberg

Kennebunk High School recently hosted the York County Regional Farm-to-School Cook-Off.

Created by the Maine Department of Education Nutrition Office, the March 18 competition featured teams from RSU 21 and nearby MSAD 60, which includes the towns of covering the towns of Berwick, North Berwick and Lebanon.

The teams included a kitchen staff member and either a student or another staff member, RSU 21 Director of Food and Nutrition Services Katherine Turner said.

“It’s an opportunity to highlight local products and school kitchen staff, and all the things they know how to do with local products,” Turner told the Post.

Each team was equipped with local ingredients, including pollock donated by the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association and eggs from local family farms.

The challenge was to create a unique breakfast and lunch recipe using the highlighted local ingredients.

Gary Hoover, kitchen manager at Kennebunkport Consolidated School, leaned into Jamaican flavors for his dishes.

Hoover prepared a Jamaican callaloo frittata for breakfast and a Jamaican pollock escabeche for lunch. He was assisted by Consolidated School third-grade teacher, TrudyAnn Morrison, a native of Jamaica, who came up with the ideas for both dishes.

Gary Hoover and TrudyAnn Morrison worked together to create Jamaican dishes. Contributed / Matthew Shinberg

The dishes had “a lot of flavor,” Hoover said.

“We seasoned it pretty heavily with jerk seasoning,” Hoover said of the lunch dish. “It got some Worcestershire sauce and vinegar. A lot of flavor.”

Each dish was judged by a four-person panel that included Kennebunk High School juniors Brayden Collard and Sam Matthews.

At the time, Matthews said he was “pretty impressed” at the idea of using local ingredients in a school cafeteria.

“If this was at school in the morning, I’d probably be here as early as I could,” Matthews said.

Most schools in the region already use local ingredients in their kitchens, Child Nutrition Supervisor at the Maine Department of Education Stephanie Stambach said.

The Farm-to-School competition is a chance to showcase school nutrition programs and the “great work” they are doing across the state.

“In Maine, we’re really lucky because we have so many local farmers and fishermen that we can showcase in school meals,” Stambach said.

Ultimately, MSAD 60 won the regional competition and advanced to the state finals in Augusta next month.