Louisiana Seafood center plate at the 12th Annual ProStart Competition

Nearly 20 ProStart teams from across Louisiana demonstrated their culinary prowess during yesterday’s competition held at the Pontchratrain Center in Kenner. This year, the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board was the title sponsor and teams used delicious Louisiana seafood in either their appetizer or entrees, and some teams opted for both.

"People visit Louisiana to enjoy our delicious cuisine and our seafood," said Stan Harris, President/CEO, LRA. "Having Louisiana Seafood as the title sponsor re-enforces its important culinary role to a captive audience --the future chefs and restaurateurs in our industry."

Students exhibited their impressive preparation skills with shrimp, crab, crawfish and finfish from our bounty rich waters before fellow teams, family members and members of the LRA Board of Directors.

"These students work so hard on their three-courses in hopes of wowing the chef judges like Chris Lusk, Haley Bitterman, Tariq Hannah and others," Harris added.

Each member of the top three teams in the Culinary Competition and the Management Competition will receive $870,000 in scholarships to notable schools in Louisiana and nationwide. The winning team of each competition will represent Louisiana at the National ProStart Invitational in Baltimore in late April.

Winners will be announced later today at the Closing Ceremony.

ProStart is a two year culinary arts and restaurant management curriculum offered in 45 high schools across Louisiana. The program is designed to attract students to meaningful and rewarding careers in our world renowned culinary and hospitality industries.