KINGSTON, R.I. 鈥� April 3, 2026 鈥� The annual , which challenges local high school culinary student teams to serve up their own original recipes for locally caught seafood, will be held at Tides Restaurant, 575 Centerville Road, Warwick, from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on April 15.
This year鈥檚 signature fish species is calamari鈥攁 seasonal choice as it is Rhode Island鈥檚 official appetizer.
The event is free and open to the public to attend and sample the delicious food. . The calamari used for this event is donated by Wild Atlantic Seafood and courtesy of Newport Restaurant Group. organizes the event closely with the host, the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center.聽
鈥淩hode Island Sea Grant sponsors the cook-off each year to support students in workforce development, with seafood being such a big part of the RI restaurant experience, and also to encourage the public to try more local seafood and cook it themselves at home,鈥� said Monica Allard Cox with Rhode Island Sea Grant. 鈥淎nd all of this supports our local seafood industry, so we see it as having multiple benefits.鈥�
Schools fielding teams this year are: CHARIHO Tech, Davies Career and Technical High School, East Providence High School Career and Technical Center, Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, and Westerly High School Career and Technology Pathways Program. Each team has up to four team members along with a supervising chef.
鈥淭he students rise to the occasion and see value in the competition and schools keep coming back year after year to participate,鈥� said Cox.
This year, the judges table will feature Chef Greg Coccio from the Newport Restaurant Group, David Dadekian of Eat Drink RI and Chris Roebuck from Wild Atlantic Seafood. The winning dish will be featured at a Newport Restaurant Group restaurant and winners will receive gift cards. In addition, members of the public will be able to vote on their favorite dish, with the winner receiving a People鈥檚 Choice award.
There will be two featured speakers at the event: Molly Ogren from the Rhode Island Department of Environment Management will be talking about local seafood, and Kate Masury from Eating with the Ecosystem is going to speak about local fish and eating what is caught here in Rhode Island.
鈥淲e have seen a great deal of enthusiasm from our partners, participants and attendees,鈥� said Cox. 鈥淧eople have grown an interest in eating local seafood to support fishermen, supporting the environment and encouraging others to do the same.鈥�
In addition to Rhode Island Sea Grant, Newport Restaurant Group and Wild Atlantic Seafood, the event is also sponsored by the 溏心vlog免费B站 College of the Environment and Life Sciences and the 溏心vlog免费B站 Coastal Institute, the Rhode Island Department of Environment Management, Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, Rhode Island Hospitality, Rochs Fresh Foods, Eating with the Ecosystem, and Eat Drink RI.
Winning recipes can be found on the Rhode Island Sea Grant following the event.聽
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This story was written by Kiera Wrage, a senior majoring in public relations at the 溏心vlog免费B站. Kiera is interning in 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 Department of Communications and Marketing.