Student cooking maestros recently faced off to see who could make the most gourmet — and tastiest — vegetarian meal in one hour. Every year at the annual Polar Chef Competition in Thorne Dining Hall, two teams of students who work in Bowdoin’s dining halls compete for best dish.

Judges this year included Karen Mills, former head of the Small Business Administration and wife of President Barry Mills, chemistry professor Richard Broene, One Card Coordinator Chris Bird ’07, and Shannon Grimes ’14. Team Thorne consisted of Captain Karla Olivares ’17, Winston Antoine ’16, Sivgech Chheng and Chandy Eng (the latter two are exchange students from Cambodia). Team Moulton was made up of Captain Hunter White ’17, Kevin Ma ’17, Victor Leos ’16 and Alex Osha ’14.

Both teams were told ahead of time that they would be tasked with incorporating seitan, tofu, and/or kelp in their meal. Team Thorne made a seitan taco with mango and cilantro, served with rice, and an arugula salad with tofu and avocado dressing (plus beautiful apple swans as a plate garnish). Team Moulton – ultimately deemed the winner – made a grilled seitan kebab with chimmichurri citrus-herb sauce, served with a cucumber noodle salad featuring Maine kelp.

Photos by Dennis Griggs