Eat and eat some more was the order of the day Sunday at the first Jewish Cook-Off & Food Festival.
Organizers hoped to feed 1,500 during the daylong cooking contest and eat-a-thon, held at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, 3482 E. River Road.
Planners crammed what should have been six months of preparation for an event of this size and magnitude into about three months, said Diane Kerrihard, who headed Congregation Or Chadash's effort with the fundraiser.
"We thought, we'll try it out and learn stuff from doing it, and what we learn we'll add it into next year's," Kerrihard said.
The judging of the cook-off portion kicked off the day, with chefs and the culinary-adept tasting 40 entries in 10 categories ranging from stuffed cabbage to fish salad to rugalach.
Those who would rather eat than cook took the field at noon and in much greater numbers. More than 500 people flowed through the field in the first two hours to nosh on offerings from more than 20 booths serving up various tastes of Jewish cuisine.
People are also reading…
For some, like 21-month-old Isabella Corso, it was their initial brush with Jewish cooking. Her mother, Dawn Corso, kept a constant supply of noodle kugel forking her way.
"It's her first time with kugel," Corso said. "She's just sucking it down."
Proceeds from the event will support the Congregation Or Chadash and the Community Food Bank.
