The Third Annual Vegan Iron Chef Competition will take place April 17 from noon to 5 p.m. on the second floor of the Kent State Student Center.

The vegan competition is part of the annual “Who’s Your Mamma?” Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival. The event and parking are free to those who park in the Student Center visitor’s lot.

“We’ve had between 300 to 500 people show up for this event,” said Jeff Ingram, executive director of the Standing Rock and Cultural Arts and producer of the Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival.

The event features a professional chef competition and student competition. Five teams of Kent State students will compete with students from the University of Akron’s Garde Manger club. The student competition will begin at 2 p.m. Those who attend the event will be able to sample the students’ creations.

The professional competition has two awards, the Juried Award and the People’s Choice Award. Reservations for a table of eight can be made for those who wish to sample the chefs’ creations and vote for The People’s Choice Award.

So far, seven chefs will compete for the Juried Award and the People’s Choice Award, including Julie Wandling Costell, the owner of Miss Julie’s Kitchen in Akron, and Molly Aubuchon, the owner of Specialty Sweets, a vegan bakery. Scot Jones, executive chef of VegiTerranean in Akron, will also be competing.

Some of the competitors are professional chefs and others are homemakers, Ingram said.

Kent Natural Food Corporation is one of the sponsors for this year’s event, Ingram said. They will provide a lot of the organic produce for the competitors.

Ingram said part of the criteria for judging is the competitors’ use of local and organic food.

“We want to keep with the philosophy of preserving Mother Earth,” Ingram said.

Contact Rachel Hagenbaugh at [email protected].