Feb 17, 2016

Do You Have the Cooking Chops to Dice the Competition? Enter a Live Cook-Off Contest at Chicago O’Hare International Airport

“Channel Your Inner Chef” winner will have recipe featured on O’Hare menu and win airfare and a trip to attend the HMSHost-sponsored James Beard Foundation Awards in Chicago

BETHESDA, MD— Global restaurateur HMSHost invites aspiring culinarians to enter Channel Your Inner Chef, an innovative recipe contest that spotlights local flavor and celebrates HMSHost’s sponsorship of the 2016 James Beard Awards.

You do not have to be a master chef to show off your flair for flavor. We invite you to enter this multi-phase cooking contest, as long as you work or have traveled through Chicago O’Hare International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, or Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

“Building on the success of last year’s event, we expanded the contest to travelers and employees of other major airport hubs as an opportunity to spotlight their talent in front of a live audience,” said HMSHost Vice President of Marketing Atousa Ghoreichi. “Each city offers its own hub of culinary talent, and the Channel Your Inner Chef event is a great way to celebrate not only our 2016 James Beard Awards sponsorship, but also bring together culinary innovation found throughout the U.S.”

Entry to the competition is easy. Submit a five-minute video of yourself preparing your favorite original recipe. Be sure to show off your stellar personality. Upload the video no later than February 28, 2016, using the submission form at ChannelYourInnerChef.com. A panel of experts will select five finalists that will be awarded a trip to Chicago to compete in a cook-off in front of a live audience and panel of judges at O’Hare International Airport on March 22, 2016.

The timed cook-off presents the finalists with the challenge of creating an original recipe with a bounty of ingredients available to them at the start of the event. The winning dish will be featured on the menu of an HMSHost-operated restaurant at O’Hare for all travelers and airport community to try.

The contest grand prize winner also receives two roundtrip airline tickets for a flight within the continental U.S. and a VIP trip for two to attend the James Beard Foundation Awards Gala on May 2, 2016 at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Entries are accepted through February 28, 2016. Full details of Channel Your Inner Chef, including rules and regulations can be found at ChannelYourInnerChef.com.