COMPETITOR

Brenda Washnock

COMPETITION: World Recipe Championship

QUALIFYING EVENT: All-American California Avocado

Born and raised West of Detroit I relocated to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on beautiful Lake Superior to raise my children. I was a nurse by trade and left that to be with my kids. Now that my youngest is ready for college, I’m cooking. I’m most passionate about ethnic foods. I love getting acquainted with the spice palette from other countries, learning how to use it and to work with it. Aside from a local contest, I’ve been competing nationally for a year and I’m ‘all in’ now. I’m meeting wonderful people with skills and creativity that’s infectious. It’s fascinating to be in the presence of like-minded people. My competitive wins are with The Mining Journal, a local publication, from which I earned a Grand prize for Gado Gado, and Indonesian dish and other category wins there. I recently had the pleasure of spending time in the Duncan Hines test kitchen facility in Parsippany, NJ for creating a Mocha Cupcake with caramel and sea salt. Also, I receive a grand prize through the California Avocado Growers Association for Haitian Black Bean Salsa. I’m so happy to take the next step of competing at the World Recipe Championship in Fabulous Las Vegas.