News

Mayo Demonstration Academy's Lakia Marshall has been named a Future Chef finalist! She's hoping her healthy fried rice recipe takes her all the way to the championship.

Tulsa Public Schools' Child Nutrition Department hosted the district-wide competition. Lakia's recipe was up against 56 others from 18 different schools.

The next step in the competition is a cook-off between the finalists.

"It feels good to be a finalist in the competition. At first, I didn't think it would be good, but it turned out to be really good. I'm really excited. I'm excited about the competition and I'm also nervous," Lakia said.

Lakia said she spent a lot of time with her family coming up with the idea and preparing it. She wanted the dish to be spicy and taste good but to also be healthy.

"My parents helped me look up to see how it's made and how to make it better. I just wanted to try to make it without soy sauce, because it has so much salt in it, so I made it with vegetable oil and seasoning," Lakia said.

She said it took about three days to make her dish.

The finalists prepare their recipes on March 27, 2019, at Emerson Elementary at 2:15 p.m. That will be followed by an awards ceremony at 4:15 p.m.

View more about child nutrition here.