Fair food competition sees more entries

Food and nutrition preservation event sees between 350 and 400 entries
By: 
Luke Reimer
Reporter

The annual food and nutrition preservation event at the 2021 Shawano County Fair was packed with entries Sept. 3.

The event showcases different foods and deserts that were submitted to judges in an effort to win the blue ribbon as best in each category.

“This event is for the county fair,” said Jerry DeSchmidtt, foods and nutrition superintendent. “This is just for fun competition. We want to see who the best baker is.”

DeSchmidtt said that certain factors go into how a dish is judged and what separates one dish from another dish.

“With the dairy promotions, they are promoting dairy products,” he said. “They need to have at least two dairy products — another part of the dish is presentation and taste.”

Subcategories for the dairy dishes include cakes, yeast breads, quick breads, muffins, cookies, bars, dried foods, decorated foods, pies and canned goods.

He added that judges leave comments on entries to help competitors learn what they can do to make their dish better.

“Some judges give a lot of comments,” said DeSchmidtt. “They enjoy giving those comments. You are free to ask judges why you got a certain score after the judging.”

Judge Ila Sanders said when she judges food for competitors, she tries to leave as many comments as possible to help them improve on their cooking and baking.

“I try to write comments as I can,” she said. “I want to communicate what maybe didn’t put them in a blue ribbon position. Hopefully it is a learning experience.”

She added that the big takeaways for people who enter their food are improvement, fun and satisfaction.

“They will see how they compare with others,” said Sanders. “They will look at those comments and see how they can improve. There is also an energizing feeling from seeing others bake and cook different items as well.”

According to DeSchmidtt, judges are qualified to examine these entries through criteria set by the state of Wisconsin. He also said that food related professions give judges experience and qualifications to make their decisions.

“I think most of the judges have been around food in their work history,” said DeSchmidtt.

Sanders said that she enjoys judging this event every year. She has a degree in home economics.

“I was raised in Shawano County as a 4-Her,” she said. “I always said that I wanted to be a food judge. I love to look at the foods and see the satisfaction that people are getting from it.”

DeSchmidtt said a lot of new exhibitors wanted to get their food judged during the 2021 Shawano County Fair. He attributes the rise to people who have witnessed the event in the past.

“It is just from people last year who came through and said, ‘Oh, I can do that’,” said DeSchmidtt. “We told them that they can enter and see how well they do.”

DeSchmidtt views the increase as a positive thing.

“I enjoy the competition,” said DeSchmidtt. “If we could fill up every single food case, I think we would all be really happy.”

With more people getting vaccinated and coming out to the fair this year, DeSchmidtt said that he thought the turnout of people who entered the competition was great. He said that there were between 350 and 400 entries this year.

Last year, the food and nutrition preservation event was held during the COVID-19 pandemic and it looked a little different than this year.

“This was different from last year in that judges were the only one who could taste the food last year,” said DeSchmidtt. “This year if you want to try the food, you can ask the judge and they will cut off a little bit for you.”


lreimer@newmedia-wi.com