From Bowls of Cereal to Iron Chef

Last week a dream of mine came true: I was an Iron Chef. I am in no way, shape, or form a cooking machine and don’t even pretend to be an aluminum chef. I would say my expertise is on the other side of the plate—the eating. Fortunately, the main ingredient of this challenge was teamwork and not cooking. Even though I’ve never worked with Norah, Brianna or even my own partner, Haroun, we functioned like a well-olive oiled cooking machine. I think what gave us the edge was our preparation before cooking. We all went up to the ingredients to get some ideas, came back, brainstormed a ton, and each decided on roles to take that we felt comfortable doing. Brianna’s father took charge of the grill, Norah’s mother owned that soup station, and Haroun and I took the point guard role: dishing out assists to every station by getting ingredients, prepping the vegetables, or cleaning the stations. In the heat of the challenge I don’t think we were focused on winning, we were all just trying to complete our tasks and not let each other down. When we first got started, I thought that the size of the working space would be a huge problem, but since the ingredients and food were moving from station to station more than any of us, there wasn’t a single problem.

There were three courses in the lesson I took away from this competition. The appetizer is communication. Before we started cooking, we all took a look at what we had and came up with a plan. Each of us openly shared their cooking experience (or lack there of) and at the ingredients that we had to work with. We knew what we wanted to make after learning what we could make. The main dish was emphasizing and playing off strengths. As much as I would have loved to been at the stove or on the grill, I knew that’s not where my team needed me most. The division of labor for this competition really allowed the entire group to flourish and we each put ourselves in a position to succeed. One of the overarching lessons learned in BLF is recognizing and using strengths, and I think that this competition allowed everyone to find their niche in the kitchen. Finally for dessert, we have accountability and encouragement. Everyone was dependent on each other to complete the dish, so we each looked after each other. Whether it was cleaning up for someone after they finished or showing them how to slice and dice onions, no one was just focused their own task.