4-H Food Show

A 4-Her and his nutritious dish

Hi everyone! Well, as you probably know, it's 4-H Food  Show time again! The rules vary from county to county, but there are still some helpful tips and tricks to know when participating in the 4-H Food Show!

The Overview:

• You will prepare a nutritious dish, and learn some basic facts about it
• Click here for the official rules and guidelines
• You'll be judged by a panel of 2-3 judges
•  They will ask you questions if you're a junior or intermediate 4-Her, or have you give a short speech if you're a senior 4-Her. This should pertain to your dish, and your community service opportunities (i.e, helping at a food pantry) with food.

A junior 4-H er's quiche

What NOT to do:

• No notecards. The judges expect you to know the basics on your dish, and they WILL dock points if you read from notes
• Don't serve/offer your dish to the judges. They are not supposed to taste the food due to food poisoning concerns
• Don't prepare a desert. Your dish should be nutritious.

Tips and Tricks

• Depending on where you live and in what county, you may be able to enter the place setting contest. If so, feel free to go all out on decorating your dish!  If not, here's an example of a simple but presentable dish  presentation; since it was a creole, I went with a Mardi-Gras style theme. 

  

  Shrimp Creole Dish Presentation

• Your plate should contain one serving!
• Ask your county agent if she has a copy of the judge's scoresheets. Or, use the one provided on your State's 4-H website. Study the scoresheets so you'll know what the judges look for!

Good Luck!