A healthy competition, with a tasty outcome

Are we raising a nutritionally aware generation of eaters who can avoid the obesity, diabetes and other problems that plague so many Americans?

The Stokes County 4-H Nutrition Fair last week made me think that we might be.

4-H clubs have been holding nutrition fairs for years. Terri Bost, the Stokes extension agent for 4-H, organized an especially festive and well-attended fair at Palmyra United Methodist Church this year, which happens to be 4-H's centennial.

So this year's fair was augmented by a pancake supper -- with pancakes made from Stokes sweet potatoes -- and an informal reunion for Stokes alumni.

Nutritional showcases

But the heart of the fair was the 41 youngsters and their 41 dishes, all in competition for the best and healthiest.

The youngsters, ages 5 to 18, got a class in nutrition basics the week before. For the competition, they were judged not just on the nutritional content and taste of the food they prepared, but also on their creativity, personal appearance, table settings and their ability to answer questions about nutrition and food safety.

The youngsters were divided into three age categories: 5 to 8, 9 to 12 and 13 to 18.

They were allowed to prepare any type of dish. Not surprisingly, the assortment included a fair number of pizzas and other cheesy concoctions. I took it as a good sign that only eight children made a dessert.

But even the desserts offered opportunities for the children to show what they have learned about nutrition. Many featured sweet potatoes -- a major crop in Stokes -- or pumpkin, both of which are among the most nutritious vegetables. Low-fat, cream-cheese icing was popular, too.

Some sweets were deceptively healthy, such as the banana-nut muffins from Kimberly Burford. Kimberly, 10, cleverly replaced half the butter in the muffins with homemade apple butter, thus lowering the fat and adding extra vitamins.

Their knowledge is impressive

Even the pizzas took a healthy turn.

Sarah Tinnes, 9, was quick to point out that her Veggie Squares were loaded with broccoli and carrots. Kevin Hampton, 15, made a Mexican pizza with low-fat turkey, whole-grain tortillas and lots of mushrooms, corn and bell peppers.

Some of the other dishes included zucchini chocolate cake, skillet beef with lentils, tomato-strawberry ice cream, sour-cream chicken enchiladas, white-bean turkey chili and West African groundnut (peanut) stew.

I was impressed by how much some of the younger children could explain about the dishes. Lukas Dillon, 7, made what he called Luke's Specialty, a kid-friendly recipe combining ground beef, tomatoes, chiles, beans, and macaroni and cheese. He got the recipe from his grandmother. "It has protein from the meat. The beans have high fiber," he said. "And it is full of antioxidants from the tomatoes and chiles. And the cheese has calcium."

Hannah King, 8, said of her cheeseburger soup: "It has carrots, which has lots of vitamin B, which helps your eyes. The meat has protein, and the cheese has calcium and protein."

After the judges sampled and conferred, they awarded ribbons for the best dishes. Here are the winners for the best overall dishes in each age category:

□ Ages 5 to 8: Allison Hartman, 7, broccoli cheese soup.

□ Ages 9 to 12: Maya Burgess, 10, black-bean soup.

□ Ages 13 to 18: Bryan Hartman (Allison's cousin), 15, chicken Parmesan.

Judges were also charged with picking the best dish from the top three winners. That honor went to Maya, whose whole family eats vegetarian for health reasons. "It has almost every food group in it, and it is low in calories," Maya said about her soup. "The sour cream is low-fat and high in calcium. The beans have fiber."

The soup is nice and spicy. It also has a nice shortcut trick of dumping a large jar of salsa into it to add flavor and spice. "She likes spicy things," said her mother, Emily Burgess. "And I think she's been tweaking this for a while."

Bost said that many of these youngsters participated in past nutrition fairs. So the fairs tend to improve as the children get older and learn more from year to year.

"I was impressed that there were a lot fewer desserts this year," Bost said. "They're really starting to get it."

For Maya's winning recipe, visit www.journalnow.com/food.

■ Michael Hastings, the Journal's Food editor, can be contacted by phone at 727-7394, e-mail at mhastings@wsjournal.com, or mail at c/o Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. His most recent columns can be read on our Web site at www.journalnow.com.