A collection of vegetable detritus ordinarily destined for the Waste Not 2.0 bin (and who knows thereafter) played a starring role in the 2026 CulinArt Waste Warrior Challenge, with an Asian-style crepe made with watermelon rind and onion skin accompanied by a dessert made with pineapple core taking the top prize.
The winning team’s Celery Root Jianbing and Pineapple, Coconut & Ginger Panna Cotta received the most votes during the event, which was held at Stryker, in Mahwah, N.J., on Stop Food Waste Day. CulinArt’s dining services team, led by National Account Manager Rob Horton, staged the event in an atrium near the café. Each Challenge pair, accompanied by a coach, prepared 100 portions of their recipes, all of which were enjoyed by Stryker associates, and more than 60 of them voted in the “Best Taste, Least Waste”–style competition.
The Challenge featured a Mystery Box of ingredients that the chefs learned of upon arrival at Stryker that day. Items ranged from proteins such as whole chickens, pork, fish collars, and tofu, to vegetable scraps (e.g., the rinds, skins, peels, stalks, cores, etc.) and edible flowers. The variety was intended to provide the chefs with a broad range of items and encourage creativity, but no specific requirements were imposed. In making their choices, “the chefs went in different directions,” says Paul Basciano, VP of culinary excellence who oversaw the event, “but the end result was fantastic.”
The chefs then had four hours to prepare their dishes. “The celery root stood out for us,” says J.C. Mobriant, district chef (Furman) and member of the winning team. “We knew that we could cook that down and puree it for a crepe batter. We thought that using the proteins would be time-consuming, so we kept our dish vegetarian.” Ingredients for the crepe filling included shredded ends of romaine lettuce, pickled with red vinegar, gochujang sauce, and watermelon rind kimchi; and thinly sliced broccoli stems fried in a thin tempura batter.
Joe Loftus—chef manager at Lockheed Martin and runner-up in last year’s Challenge—served as coach for this team. He reduced onion skins in a homemade vegetable broth to a thick caramel sauce, which the crepe rested on. Meanwhile, Will Pfeiffer, executive chef at Charter Communications, assembled the panna cotta by first cooking pineapple scraps with coconut milk, ginger, and other aromatics. He then strained the mixture, added gelatine, portioned, and topped it with pureed pineapple core.
“It was such a fun experience to have to think outside the box with all the scraps we wanted to use,” Mobriant explains, “but when it was time to serve our dishes to the guests and explain our process, they were blown away with what we were able to produce out of what would essentially be thrown away. Just to be in a kitchen with the talent we had and create the dishes both teams produced was, in my opinion, the highlight. Just a bunch of chefs doing what we love to do!”
The creativity at the next prep table was just as innovative, with this team opting to use three of the proteins (swordfish collar, halibut, and grouper) in crafting Fish Chorizo Sopes. “We were thinking ‘Latin cuisine’ because of Cinco de Mayo,” says Jason Arellano, executive chef at John Wiley & Sons, “and we used the fish so we could challenge ourselves. I couldn’t believe there was fish collar—that’s very prized and sought after in restaurants. We also had fish bellies and bones; I thought, let’s do something outside the box—what do we have to lose?”
Arellano, working with Anthony Bouwkamp, chef manager for Stryker in Kalamazoo, Mich., then smoked the fish meat, marinated it with chili peppers, and wound up with something having the texture of ground pork. “We also had a plethora of vegetable and fruit scraps as well as edible flowers and fermented honey,” he added.
Coach Jessica Mansfield—district chef (Soltmann) and last year’s Challenge winner—prepared the sopes (a masa corn cake) for the dish’s foundation, incorporating a stock made from the fish bones. Resting on the sopes was a slaw of broccoli flower, broccoli stem, broccoli leaves, marigolds, and a crema made from the broccoli stems.
To wash it down, this team blended in some Cinco de Mayo influence in creating a Tropical Agua Fresca, which “tasted like a frozen margarita,” Arellano noted. They boiled peels from bananas, oranges and other citrus with sugar to create a simple syrup, removed certain matter that could not be pureed, strained twice, and blended with ice. Cups into which the beverage was poured were first dipped into the remaining syrup, which had crystallized upon cooling (just as real margaritas are often dipped in salt).
In working with the team and participating in the Challenge for a second time, Mansfield identified a higher purpose. “We all look at food through different lenses,” she says. “The Waste Warrior events are doing more than just reducing waste—they are bringing chefs together, building stronger teams, and encouraging everyone to think outside the box and push their creativity. My advice would be for people to step out of their comfort zones—say ‘yes’ when an opportunity arises and allow yourself to be creative. When something doesn’t work, that’s where the learning happens.”
Comments from Stephanie Dorfman, Waste Warrior Challenge Catalyst
Year after year, CulinArt’s Waste Warrior Competitions keep getting more creative and more innovative. The food the chefs produced this year was so impressive!
I love how this “competition” brings chefs together from different regions and forms connections across CulinArt that may not have been formed otherwise.
Thank you so much to the Stryker Mahwah team for hosting this year’s competition. The event flowed so well and created excitement in the dining area, and it was all because of the Stryker Mahwah team!
This is one my favorite events of the year – being able to showcase the incredible talent of some of the CulinArt chefs and allowing them to be as creative as they can in the kitchen.