CIA Students Fight for a Trip to Japan

2025 Kikkoman Student Innovation Challenge

Author Annie B. Milostan ’25 is a Baking and Pastry Arts major.

The Culinary Institute of America always has unique cooking competitions that allow students to be creative and get the chance to experience the exciting and intense environment of a competitive atmosphere. A very popular competition is the Kikkoman Student Innovation Challenge. This challenge happens every year and eight lucky students are chosen from all three campuses. Students upload a unique recipe using a Kikkoman-inspired ingredient or two and wait to get selected. Once they are chosen, they have roughly four weeks to meet with a chef to help them elevate their recipes. First there is a recipe workshop, then they get to take advantage of making their dishes until they perfect them for competition day.

Contestants were allowed in the kitchen fifteen minutes after the person ahead of them, they then had two hours to complete their dish and lastly present it to the judges within a fifteen-minute judging window. In these fifteen minutes they bring four plates to the four judges, and they put one presentation plate on a long table with their number so the judges can go over them again when deliberating.

First place was a modernized Yakiniku beef tongue entrée, the judges were so impressed with how wonderfully the beef tongue was cooked within the two-hour window. Chanhee Lee, a Culinary Arts major hailing from South Korea, won a full week in Japan and a three-day stage at a Michelin-starred restaurant completely paid for. Second place was a mouthwatering lamb, this was his first time ever making lamb, but he wanted to challenge himself, he won a $1,000 scholarship. Third place was a beautiful chicken dish, he won a $500 scholarship. All contestants walked away with a box of goods from Kikkoman and everyone that didn’t win said they felt like winners because they had this amazing opportunity to practice their skills.