COMPETITOR

Big Mike

HEAD COOK: Michael Mengelkamp

COMPETITION: World Seafood Championship

I've been cooking since I was five, when my grandpa taught me how to make eggs. Since then, it's been impossible to keep me out of the kitchen. I wanted to learn everything. I watched every cooking show that I could, my favorite being Good Eats. Pretty soon I was experimenting for myself, not just going by recipes. Once I got into high school I immediately signed up for every cooking class that I could. I was eager to impress my teachers, so while my classmates were struggling to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch, I was making steak, risotto, and steamed broccolini (People learned very quickly to be a part of my group when we cooked). Pretty soon Mr. Stanhill, my culinary teacher, was signing me up for competitions, trying to get me involved in C-Cap. Shortly after he told me about the Teen Challenge Cook-off, and here we are.