Sacramento chefs ready to compete in sandwich and seafood

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Posted Nov 5, 2014

Sacramento chefs ready to compete in sandwich and seafood

A cook from Vallejo and another from Napa will represent the "Sacramento area" in the World Food Championships in Las Vegas this month.

The third annual multi-day food sport event will welcome hundreds of competitors to downtown Las Vegas "where they'll compete for food fame and fortune, Nov. 12-18," organizers said.

Kelli Fairchild-Cochran of Vallejo will compete in the World Sandwich Championship, while Sharon Damante of Napa is entered into the World Seafood Championship competition.

"I am extremely excited to have been named Kemore's Cookmore Seafood Champ and can't wait to compete in Vegas at the World Food Championships," Damante said.

"The World Food Championships is the natural progression of the thousands of cooking competitions that take place across the globe each year," according to the organization's website. "Tens of thousands of consumers will compete in a year-long trial to qualify" for the competition.

The 2014 World Food Championships will feature nearly 500 cooks and chefs, "putting 'Joes' and 'pros'" on an equal footing "to battle it out for hundreds of thousands of dollars and the coveted title of the World Food Champion," according to the announcement.

Following a tournament-style format across nine food categories including BBQ, chili, burger, sandwich, recipe, dessert, bacon, pasta and seafood, competitors will vie for the title.

"The event will culminate with a Final Table face-off where category champions brave potential elimination in front of a live audience and a discerning panel of culinary celebrities," organizers said. Damante, 52, said she first heard about the contest last year when some of her friends competed. Last year's event conflicted with a festival she's involved with, but this year, "I am off to Vegas!" she said.

Fairchild-Cochran said she qualified for the Las Vegas face-off after winning an online "Sandwich America" contest with her Sin City Steak Sandwich.

"I won the People's Choice, which guaranteed me a spot in the championship, so I'm going to Las Vegas to compete in the sandwich categories," she said.

A catering firm employee, Fairchild-Cochran said she's been cooking for a quarter century.

"I enjoy feeding people good food," the 49-year-old married mother of three and grandmother of six said. "It's where I get my satisfaction."

Damante, on the other hand, said she finds this kind of competition "a huge personal challenge" and this particular contest "provides a chance to make a little mark for myself in this very vast industry."

She said she learned her qualifying dish – "Korean Q'd Shrimp with Blistered Shishito Peppers – my riff – my take on the 'Nawlins classic barbecue shrimp" — had won her a championship spot while visiting her son and his family in Florida.

"I remember seeing the email come across and then just bursting out loud 'WOOOOOO HOOOOO!!,' and then remembering that my then 18 month old granddaughter was taking a nap, so, I just sort of danced around their kitchen like a crazy woman."

More excited than anxious, Damante described it as, "like a happy nervous where you just can't stop daydreaming about winning $10,000 ... and whoa maybe even $100,000! ... and giggling to yourself that it might actually happen!"

The event averages about 25,000 attendees daily throughout the multiple zones and competitions, all while being filmed by Core Media Group/Sharp Entertainment for a six-episode TV series to air on the A&E family of networks in the Spring, organizers said.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/bay-area-news/ci_26851270/two-locals-compete-national-cooking-contest

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Sacramento chefs ready to compete in sandwich and seafood

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