Army in Europe team wins big at 35th culinary arts competition

HEIDELBERG, Germany -- The team from U.S. Army in Europe walked away with 22 gold, nine silver and five bronze awards at the 35th U.S. Army Culinary Arts Competition at Fort Lee, Va., March 12.

The team's most notable individual win went to Pfc. Antoinette Davison of the 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation, who was named as Armed Forces Junior Chef of the Year.

The Europe chefs also brought home the competition's top team prize -- the Installation of the Year Award. Team officials said that award has not been won by a Europe-based team since 1992.

Other individual winners include Staff Sgt. Stevie Bronson, Regimental Support Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, and Sgt. Ken Turman, for their entries in the professional cooking categories and Spc. William Pelkey's best in class in the patisserie category.

The team, composed of food service specialists from U.S. Army Europe and the Installation Management Command-Europe, also won the best team buffet table award.

The competition is called the largest annual culinary competition in the U.S. The Europe team was organized and coached by former Chef of the Year Sgt. Maj. Mark Warren of the USAREUR logistics directorate.

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Sgt. Ken Turman (left) and Staff Sgt. Stevie Branson of Team Europe participated in the field cooking competition March 5 duiring the 35th U.S. Army Culinary Arts Competition at Fort Lee, Va. The team, composed of food service specialists from U.S. Army Europe and Installation Management Command-Europe, earned 36 awards at the competition, including Installation of the Year and Armed Forces Junior Chef of the Year. (U.S. Army photo by Kimberly Fritz)

About us: The U.S. Army in Europe, with NATO and other coalition partners from throughout its 51-country area of responsibility, trains for, conducts, and supports contingency operations. Headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, USAREUR has forces throughout Germany as well as in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Romania, and in Afghanistan and Iraq.