Spud Nation Throwdown Cookoff Competition

Four international chefs competed in the second annual Spud Nation Throwdown Cookoff for the honors of being named Top Spud and $2,500. Potatoes USA President and CEO Blair Richardson says this year it was a global search for competitors.

Richardson: "Well the Spud Nation Throwdown was a fantastic event this year. We went out and we had a preliminary search for chefs around the world. We wanted to bring in the global flavors that people are using on potatoes outside of the United States and how that may be impacting future trends here in the United States. The finalist were chefs from Costa Rica, Chef Doris; Chef Wandy from the Dominican Republic; Chef Ton from Taiwan and Chef Ian Kittichai from Thailand."

The finalists cooked their winning recipes at the Potato Expo which all offered an exciting fusion of tastes, cultures and flavors and showcased the diversity of fresh, dehydrated, and frozen potato products in traditional Asian, Latin and Western meals.

The winner was Chef Ian with his Massaman Beef Curry. Richardson continues

Richardson: "Chef Ian is actually the only Iron Chef who has won the Iron Chef Contest in every televised market in the world. So it was a wonderful opportunity to have someone of his star power and history here."