Media Contacts:
Christine Thomas
United Entertainment Group, for PepsiCo
212-704-4505
christine.thomas@uegworldwide.com
Jeff Levine
The Culinary Institute of America
845-451-1372
j_levine@culinary.edu
Purchase, NY – The road to the Super Bowl includes a new stop this year: the kitchens
of the world’s most distinguished culinary college.
PepsiCo today announced “Game Day Grub Match,” a culinary
competition in which student chefs from The Culinary
Institute of America (CIA) will compete to create the ultimate Super Bowl
party dish.
The competition kicks off this weekend at the CIA’s campus in Hyde Park, NY, where
four teams of student chefs will be tasked with preparing their own unique
recipes. There is only one catch: each team must incorporate PepsiCo food and
beverage products as ingredients.
An all-star cast will be on hand to evaluate the students’
dishes, including Food Network star Anne Burrell and acclaimed chef and
restaurateur David Burke—both of whom are CIA alumni—and New York Jets Pro Bowl
center Nick Mangold. Two finalist teams will be
chosen to travel to Arizona, the site of Super Bowl XLIX, later this month to
have their culinary creations sampled at various Super Bowl events.
The winning team will be crowned on Saturday, January 31
during Taste of the NFL’s annual Party with a Purpose, an event that rallies
top chefs and NFL players to raise money in support of food banks throughout
the United States. The winners will earn tickets to Super Bowl XLIX and receive
a $5,000 scholarship. The PepsiCo Foundation will also make a $50,000 donation
to Taste of the NFL to support food banks across the country.
“No Super Bowl party is complete without PepsiCo snacks and
beverages, and no institution embodies culinary excellence more than
The
Culinary Institute of America,” said PepsiCo Corporate Executive
Research Chef
Stephen Kalil. “PepsiCo products have been a Super
Bowl Sunday centerpiece in family rooms across the country for
decades. Putting our products in the hands of the next generation of
great
chefs to create one-of-a-kind game day dishes promises to make Super
Bowl
history by changing the face of football party food forever.”
The four teams competing this weekend were chosen following
a campus-wide search last month in which PepsiCo and the CIA asked students to
submit videos stating why they are worthy of Super Bowl greatness. The top four
student video submissions earned a spot in “Game Day Grub Match.”
“The CIA has a long-standing relationship with PepsiCo and
we are excited to give our students the opportunity to participate in this
unique program,” said Dr. Victor Gielisse,
vice president of advancement and business development for the college. “CIA
students are naturally innovative, and this competition will really spark their
culinary creativity and competitive spirit. Beyond giving our students the
opportunity to cook at one of the year’s biggest events, we also thank PepsiCo
for helping to fund scholarships that will advance our students’ culinary
education.”
The Competition
The four student teams competing in “Game Day Grub Match” will receive a pantry
of PepsiCo products containing an assortment of the company’s food and beverage
brands. Each two-member team must incorporate at least three PepsiCo products
into its recipe and will spend a day working in the CIA Test Kitchen creating
the ultimate Super Bowl dish. Each team will present its dish to a judging
panel during a campus-wide tailgate event. The judging panel will evaluate each
dish and choose two finalist teams to advance to Arizona in late January.
The Student Teams
- Matthew F. Johnson from Duluth, MN and Cullen Folks from
Atlanta, GA
- Mason Aronson from Sedona, AZ and Adam Shoemaker from Valparaiso,
IN
- Ryan Hartwell from Yorktown, VA and Mathew Kilgus from Watsontown, PA
- Marie Taccino from Dallas, TX and
Olivia DeSalvo from Broomall, PA
The Experts
“Game Day Grub Match” will bring together some of the most respected names in
food and football:
- With her trademark spiky blond hair and pumped-up
personality, Anne Burrell ’96 has been
sharing her passion for food and cooking with America and isn’t slowing down.
Not only has she worked at some of the top restaurants in New York and studied
the culinary traditions of Italy, she is the host of Food Network’s hit show, Worst Cooks in America. Burrell has
battled alongside Mario Batali as his sous chef on Iron Chef America and is a New York Times best-selling author with
her cookbook Cook Like a Rock Star. Her second cookbook, Own
Your Kitchen: Recipes to Inspire & Empower was released in October
2013.
- Nick Mangold is a professional football player who plays
center for the New York Jets. A food aficionado off the field, Mangold was a first round pick out
of the Ohio State University in the 2006 NFL Draft and is a six-time Pro Bowl
selection.
- James Beard Award winner and Bravo Top Chef Masters Contestant Chef
David Burke’82 is universally known as a pioneer in
the culinary world. His decades-long reputation for sourcing and
utilizing the
best ingredients and preparing completely unique dishes has securely
placed him
in the forefront of American dining. The originality of his
presentations and
the whimsy that he adds to such expertly prepared fare has often
earned him the
label of the “Willy Wonka of Chefs.” Chef Burke’s
career spans more than three decades and began at The Culinary
Institute of
America. At the young age of 26, David became the first American to
ever win
the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Diplome d’Honneur due
to his mastery of French technique, incredible skills, and flair for
creativity. With a slew of critically acclaimed restaurants under
his belt,
Chef David Burke’s newest venture, Grillhouse by
David Burke, delivers his signature and award-winning culinary
offerings to
Schaumburg, IL.
- Waldy Malouf ’75 is
the senior director of food and beverage operations at The Culinary Institute
of America. He manages the CIA Restaurant Group,
overseeing the enhancement of the customer experience while ensuring
student
learning remains unparalleled at the college’s on-campus
restaurants. Chef Malouf is a 1975 CIA graduate and former chairman of
its
Alumni Council. A highly accomplished chef, restaurateur, and
author, he has
been named a “Great Chef of New York” numerous times by the James
Beard
Foundation.
- Stephen Kalil is PepsiCo’s corporate executive research chef,
responsible for leading and inspiring new product development through the
application of culinary arts. He is both a Certified Executive Chef with the
American Culinary Federation and a Certified Research Chef with the Research
Chefs Association. He is also a member of the CIA’s Society of Fellows.
Follow the competition online by subscribing to PepsiCo’s
Twitter channel @PepsiCo and by
keeping an eye on #GameDayGrubMatch.
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.
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.
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