McGill hosts first ever inter-university Iron Chef competition

WATCH ABOVE: Food was flying all over the place at McGill University Saturday afternoon, as it held the first ever inter-university Iron Chef competition. Rachel Lau has the tasty details.

MONTREAL – McGill campus hosted the first ever inter-university Iron Chef competition on Saturday, and according to the chefs, cooking is practically a sport.

“We’re going to Sochi after this,” joked Priscilla Wang, of Team McGill as she made her chocolate fondant.

“It’s quite strenuous,” agreed Christopher Siu, of Team Toronto. “You have to run around the kitchen, deal with the heat, the competition. Everything is there.”

It is, as they say, a battle of knives and cutting boards – all for for culinary boasting rights.

“It’s fun, and they’re all enjoying it and they’re prepared and really serious to win,” said Suzanne Bubic, Manager of Operations in the McGill dining halls.

McGill took on chefs from the Universities of Toronto, Ottawa and Massachusetts.

Participants have two hours to create two dishes – one vegetarian, and one not.

“They’re being judged on cleanliness, teamwork, kitchen technique,” said Chef Oliver de Volpi, who organized the event. “They’re also being judged on the actual plate that’s put in front of the judges.”

All the meals are based on a list of five fair trade and organic ingredients provided at the start of the challenge.

“If we look at the ingredients on the list, we touch on fair trade pepper, humanly raised pork and organic jade rice,” said de Volpi.

“These are things we use on a regular basis and things we want to push as an example for students to use.”

And when the pressure’s on, well, it’s on.

“We’re just trying to work together to make sure everything comes perfect or near perfect,” said Wang. “Fingers crossed.”

At the end of the two hours, their teamwork is judged and their dishes are scrutinized.

“The taste, for sure,” said celebrity judge Jonathan Garnier from La Guilde Culinaire. “But probably the originality behind the recipe, what they’ve done with the main ingredients.”

After sinking their teeth into the world of competitive cooking, many of the students say dorm room grub will never taste the same again.

“I try to cook healthy meals at home but after this, I definitely want to cook even fancier, healthier meals,” said Wang.

At the end of the competition, the big prize was awarded to the University of Massachusetts.

As for McGill, they came in a tasty second followed closely by the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto.