Registration open for 2018 Blended Burger Project
The James Beard Foundation has tweaked its Blended Burger Project competition format as it gears up for the fourth annual showdown this summer.
The competition is between chefs who create and menu a burger featuring at least 25% chopped mushrooms for a “more delicious, nutritious and sustainable” dish, according to a news release.
After registering a contest entry online at jamesbeard.org/blendedburgerproject, restaurants then encourage guests to participate by voting online for their favorite blended burger from Memorial Day to July 31.
New this year, contest judges will review the 20 restaurants receiving the most votes to select five top winners, based on most creative use of mushrooms and on flavor and presentation, according to the release. In previous years the top five vote-getters automatically won.
MORE: See the 2017 Blended Burger Project's five winners here.
The five winning chefs, selected by the judges from the top 20 restaurants, will win a trip to New York City to cook their blended burger dish at the James Beard House.
“Last year, nearly 500 restaurants took part in the Blended Burger Project, which we developed as part of our goal of encouraging restaurants to foster a more sustainable and healthy food system,” Kris Moon, vice president at the James Beard Foundation, said in the release. “With such high participation and interest among the culinary community, we wanted to grow the opportunity to honor participating restaurants and the guests who support them. We are excited to see and experience the creative, new blended burgers on menu at restaurants of all kinds this summer.”
James Beard Foundation conducts the annual competition in collaboration with the Mushroom Council. For more information on the contest guidelines and judging criteria, visit the James Beard website.
