We are VERY excited to announce that this year’s Future Chef Competition winner, Durand Elementary School’s Leonardo Hernandez, has been selected as one of FIVE finalists in the National Future Chef Competition!

This year’s competition focused on “favorite fruit or vegetable side dish.” Leonardo’s recipe for Frushi (Fruit Sushi) was named one of the best of the best out of the thousands of submissions received this year from 200 school districts across 31 states and two countries! Each school district hosted a local cooking competition and the winner from each district was entered into the regional judging process. A panel of esteemed judges reviewed and voted on the recipes based on originality, healthy attributes, ease of preparation, kid-friendliness, and adaptability for school lunch. After reviewing hundreds of recipes five students were selected as the National Future Chefs Finalists.

Sodexo is excited to welcome the public to participate in helping determine the 2023 National

Future Chefs Winner. Voting is open to the public starting Monday, May 8, 2023, through

Friday, May 12, 2023. Each finalist has submitted a video of them preparing their dish and the

public is being asked to cast their vote for their favorite. To access the Sodexo Future Chefs

voting site, click here: Vote For Our 2023 Champion (futurechefschallenge.com). You may vote once per day.

Let’s help Leonardo be named the National Future Chef Champion! Be sure to share this post to spread the word and vote every day! #SDXFutureChefs