In addition to facing off on the football field, MSU and the University of Michigan (U-M) competed in the 3rd annual Culinary Throwdown on Saturday, Oct. 7. The cooking challenge featured three rounds of competition, with student chefs, sous chefs and executive chefs from each school developing an innovative dish to present to judges.
Ashley Sanders from Brody Square and Ethan Rutherford from the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center represented MSU in the first round, while Matt Wilson from Kellogg and Executive Chef Jason Strotheide, who oversees Brody Square and Heritage Commons at Landon, competed in the second round.
Corporate Chef Kurt Kwiatkowski faced off against U-M Executive Chef Frank Turchan in the final round. Kwiatkowski crafted an Asian cold noodle salad with Michigan matsutake mushrooms, onions and carrots from the MSU Student Organic Farm and rice noodles tossed with nouc cham sauce. The dish was a combination of sweet, savory and spicy. Recipes developed in each round featured The Pork Checkoff ingredients.
Despite a valiant effort, MSU was defeated 340-304, giving U-M their first victory since the event began in 2015. In addition to cheering on their school, attendees enjoyed free samples from the Avocados from Mexico and Tabasco food truck as well as select chef tastings.