Ronnie Landon Criswell

Wood fired lamb tenderloin with minted pea purée, cold-smoked chanterelles, and a hay/porcini foam (you can see it in my profile). I made the dish using my memories of both hardship and comfort as a child. I took refined techniques I picked up from working in kitchens to turn those earthy ingredients into something elegant and deeply personal. I grew up without food through the foster care system and when me and my sisters were adopted, the first meal we had was lamb, so it’s a play

I would have to say it’s Marco Pierre White. He pretty much taught me that you can take simple ingredients and turn them 3 dimensional if you just use technique. He showed me that food can come from struggle and obsession and become something beautiful. I also connect deeply with his life story, coming up in hardship and making something out of yourself by sheer work ethic and discipline. Definitely my inspiration to this day and always will be.

I would use the money to keep building my career and future in the culinary world. I would pay off my culinary school, travel and learn from different chefs at different restaurants and refine my craft through new experiences. I want to be the kind of chef who creates food that people remember not just for the flavor but for the meaning and stories behind it. I wanna nourish people and build in them the same love I have for the culinary world, and I feel like the prize would help me achieve that