JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- Anyone who has seen the Walt Disney movie Tarzan probably remembers the scene of the young apes discovering the human camp. It's like the chaos of the Trailblazer Dining Facility's (DFAC) kitchen during a weekly Top Cook competition on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The apes' curiosity about humans and the accidental discovery of the sounds they could create, came together to make music. Like the apes in the movie, the Trailblazer cooks take unknown ingredients and put them together to create a mouth-watering meal.
"This competition is important to the Soldiers to see where their creativity lies and to see where their imagination can take them," said Sgt. Christopher Couceiero, rations manager and this week's winning Soldier, Pfc. Ghichao Yu's non-commissioned officer.
Yu, a Chinese immigrant, came to the U.S. to learn how to cook American food. This week he used his background to make a meal with Chinese influence for the competition. He prepared a traditional egg-drop soup with tomatoes, onions and mushrooms; a pickled cucumber salad with crushed red pepper flakes as an appetizer; baked Alaskan Pollock seasoned with Old Bay on a bed of fresh spinach and deep fried pork tenderloin with potato wedges. He chose it because he thought the judges would enjoy tasting popular Chinese dishes like egg-drop soup and cold cucumber salad.
The DFAC leadership chose one Soldier from each shift based on their work performance, military bearing and uniform appearance.
"It helps them in their confidence," said Cpl. Raymond Trader, shift leader. "The more they do stuff like this, the less hard on themselves they are, the more confident they become and the more pride they have in themselves."
The ingredients for the competition are kept secret until it begins and the cooks must use them to create a meal for the judges. The judges taste each meal and base their scoring on three categories: creativity, taste and presentation.
"I like to experiment with a lot of different ingredients," said Pfc. Ida Fleming, this week's second place competitor. "I like to let them see what I have to give."
Although this is her first loss she still showed good sportsmanship.
"I didn't take it too badly at all. I'm really happy for him."
The Trailblazer cooks earn bragging rights for competing, but being named Top Cook means even more if they earn the title for four consecutive weeks; then they're given a four-day pass.
"It makes me happy to win," said Yu. "I want those four-days."
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