Winning Team of
Students from The Culinary Institute of America to be Crowned at
Taste of the NFL’s Annual “Party with a Purpose” on January 31
Media Contacts
Christine Thomas
United Entertainment Group, for PepsiCo
212-704-4505
christine.thomas@uegworldwide.com
Susan Kricun
Taste of the NFL
602-628-1350
susan@kricunmedia.com
Purchase, NY – After a thrilling cook-off, two teams of student chefs from The Culinary Institute of America are one step closer to Super Bowl glory.
PepsiCo today announced that Matthew F. Johnson & Cullen
Folks and Marie Taccino & Olivia DeSalvo have advanced to the finals of “Game Day Grub Match,”
a unique culinary competition in search of the next great Super Bowl party dish.
Each team will now compete in Arizona—the site of Super Bowl XLIX—to determine who
will be named the first-ever “Game Day Grub Match” champion.
The winner will be crowned on Saturday, January 31 at Taste
of the NFL’s annual “Party with a Purpose.” The winning team will earn tickets
to Super Bowl XLIX and receive $5,000 in scholarship money.
Each team incorporated PepsiCo food and beverage products as
ingredients to create unique Super Bowl dishes. The finalists are:
- Matthew F. Johnson from Duluth, MN and
Cullen Folks from Atlanta, GA, who created Tostitos
Chipotle Chicken Tacos. This dish is served in a grilled flour
tortilla with Tostitos Salsa and Pepsi-marinated chicken and sides of a Sabra
Guacamole-based salsa verde and Sierra Mist red
cabbage slaw.
- Marie Taccino from Dallas, TX and
Olivia DeSalvo from Broomall, PA, who created Naked Chia Cherry Lime Pork Sliders, topped with Pepsi-candied bacon. The dish is served on a homemade Quaker Oats
and Fritos biscuit with a side of Muller Tropicana Slaw.
“It has been impressive and inspiring to watch these promising
young chefs from The Culinary Institute of America use PepsiCo products to
create two amazing dishes. They challenged themselves and used our brands in innovative
ways to create great flavors that would be a hit at any Super Bowl party,” said
PepsiCo Corporate Executive Research Chef Stephen Kalil.
“PepsiCo has played a starring role at Super Bowl parties for generations, and
these Game Day Grub Match recipes are going to take football party menus to the
next level.”
PepsiCo will allow fans to watch the teams compete and
follow their road to the Super Bowl starting January 20 by visiting www.gamedaygrubmatch.com and by subscribing
to PepsiCo’s Twitter channel @PepsiCo,
keeping an eye on #GameDayGrubMatch.
The first round of “Game Day Grub Match” took place at The Culinary
Institute of America’s Hyde Park, NY campus, where four student teams were given access to a
variety of products from PepsiCo’s food and beverage portfolio. They were challenged
to incorporate at least three PepsiCo products into a Super Bowl inspired recipe.
Food Network star and CIA alum Anne Burrell ’96 hosted the culinary
competition. The dishes were evaluated by an all-star judging panel comprised
of New York Jets’ Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold, James
Beard Award winner and CIA alum David Burke ’82, The Culinary Institute of
America’s Senior Director of Food and Beverage Operations Waldy Malouf ’75, and PepsiCo’s Kalil.
As “Game Day Grub Match” finalists, the student teams will sample
their culinary creations at various events during Super Bowl week. The two
dishes will be tasted and voted on by a distinguished group of professional
chefs and NFL athletes participating in this year’s Taste of the NFL “Party
with a Purpose,” an annual event that rallies top chefs and NFL players to
raise money in support of food banks throughout the U.S. Anne Burrell will
announce the winning team during “Party with a Purpose,” and the PepsiCo
Foundation will also make a $50,000 donation to Taste of the NFL to support
food banks across the country.
PepsiCo also plans to allow its fans to get a piece of the
Game Day Grub Match action. Beginning Tuesday, January 20, consumers can submit
their own Game Day Grub Match video recipe ideas via Instagram using the #InstaGrubMatch hashtag. PepsiCo will select
a winning recipe and award a two-day culinary boot camp at The
Culinary Institute of America. More information and
instructions on how to participate is available on PepsiCo’s Game Day Grub
Match website.
The Super Bowl represents the culmination of a season-long
activation for PepsiCo and its brands, which include Pepsi, the sponsor of the
Super Bowl Halftime Show; Doritos, which is back this year with its hugely
successful "Crash the Super Bowl" contest; Gatorade, which fuels
athletes on the field and is a staple of Super Bowl sidelines and locker rooms;
Tostitos, which will transform two city blocks in Phoenix into the official
party destination of Super Bowl Central; and Quaker, a supporter of Fuel Up to
Play 60, an in-school nutrition and physical activity program launched by the
National Football League and the National Dairy Council.
Photo Captions
Photo 1 (top photo): Student team members (L-R)
Cullen Folks and Matthew F. Johnson, Mason Aronson and
Adam Shoemaker, Ryan Hartwell and Mathew Kilgus, Marie Taccino and
Olivia DeSalvo,
Chef Anne Burrell, Corporate Executive Research Chef for PepsiCo
Stephen Kalil, New York Jets center Nick Mangold, Chef David Burke, and
Chef Waly Malouf at the PepsiCo Game Day Grub Match held at The
Culinary Institute of America campus on January 11, 2015 in Hyde
Park, NY. (Photo credit: Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images
North America)
View hi-res image >
Photo 2: Finalist
winners (L-R) Olivia DeSalvo and Marie Taccino at the PepsiCo Game Day Grub Match held at The
Culinary Institute of America campus on January 11, 2015 in Hyde Park, NY. (Photo credit: Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images
North America)
View hi-res image >
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion
times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.
PepsiCo generated more than $66 billion in net revenue in 2013, driven by a
complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade,
Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide
range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more
than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
At the heart of
PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose—our goal to deliver top-tier financial
performance while creating sustainable growth in shareholder value. In practice,
Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages
from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on
the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive
workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing
in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.
About The Culinary Institute of America
Founded in 1946, The Culinary Institute of America is an independent,
not-for-profit college offering associate and bachelor's degrees with majors in
culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, culinary science, and applied food
studies, as well as certificate programs in culinary arts and wine and beverage
studies. As the world's premier culinary college, the CIA provides thought
leadership in the areas of health & wellness, sustainability, and world
cuisines & cultures through research and conferences. The CIA has a network
of 47,000 alumni that includes industry leaders such as Grant Achatz, Anthony Bourdain, David
Burke, Anne Burrell, Roy Choi, Cat Cora, Steve Ells, Charlie Palmer, and Roy Yamaguchi. The CIA also offers courses for professionals
and enthusiasts, as well as consulting services in support of innovation for
the foodservice and hospitality industry. The college has campuses in Hyde
Park, NY; St. Helena, CA; San Antonio, TX; and Singapore. For more information,
visit www.ciachef.edu.
About Taste of the NFL
Since 1992, the Taste of the NFL (a 501c3 organization) has rallied the
country's top chefs and the NFL's greatest players to raise money in support of
food banks throughout the United States. To date, Taste of The NFL’s programs
and events have distributed more than $22 million to help feed the 37 million
Americans who have turned to their local food banks for assistance. The season
long efforts culminate each year with the Taste of the NFL’s Party with a
Purpose®. This year’s star-studded
fundraising event brings together exceptional cuisine, prominent chefs from
around the country, NFL players, coaches, legends and more, all to support the
fight against hunger. For more information, visit www.tasteofthenfl.com.
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