Junior chefs take charge in California State Fair cooking competition

With 30 minutes left of competition and fellow chefs bustling around her, Isabelle Nasah knew she had to start chopping her chicken thighs into chunks. Her eyes were on the sous chef preparing the guacamole, central to their dish, so she sliced the poultry without looking at her hands.

Despite oozing professionalism, Nasah, 13, was yet to lose her round cheeks and the braces glinting on her teeth.

Three teams competed in the California State Fair’s Junior Chef Cooking Challenge on Tuesday. Each brigade had a junior chef as young as 12 and an adult companion as a sous chef. Under the theme “Guac ‘N’ Rolls California Burrito Bowls,” they prepped, cooked and served their take on the dish in just 55 minutes.

TV anchor Tina Macuha, catering business owner Joe Thompson and restaurateur Chris Lombardi served as judges. Their criteria? Taste, presentation, creativity — and the junior chefs’ leadership chops.

The quality of the dishes made it difficult to choose a winner, Lombardi said. “We had to break it down like it was a Food Network or Discovery Channel competition.”

Team California Girls

Cora Nixon and her aunt, Bee Kanihan, walked into the kitchen with matching frog shirts and determined expressions. They introduced themselves as Team California Girls from Marysville.

Nixon, 14, had the least experience out of the three junior chefs. A muscular dystrophy known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease also meant she had to be careful when moving her wrists.

Nixon’s spirit drew appreciative laughs from the crowd throughout the competition. When the emcee asked if she was nervous, she paused to think before responding with a nonchalant “No.”

“It was scary,” she later admitted.

Though this was Nixon’s first time competing, Kanihan had participated in the challenge several years ago as a sous chef for Nixon’s brother. She and Nixon worked together quietly and efficiently.

The team’s well-seasoned dish played with contrast. Their cool, creamy avocado ranch balanced the crispy texture and spicy kick of their carne asada.

“She did a lot better than I thought,” Kanihan said. “She’s awesome.”

Though Nixon burned her hand when stirring a pot of black beans during the competition, her composure did not waver. She and her aunt left the event with an ice bag and third-place ribbons.

Team Avocado

Hailing from Lincoln, Roberto Alvarado Jr., 12, and his father, Roberto Alvarado Sr., were a notably chill duo in contrast to their scorching pots of boiled rice and sizzling pans of shrimp.

Alvarado Jr. first began cooking three years ago after watching his parents concoct enchiladas and their “famous tacos.” The aspiring master chef fine-tuned his buttery shrimp burrito bowl recipe with his uncle Anthony. Despite making the dish only once, he went off memory during the competition, unlike his peers who referenced copies of their recipes.

The Alvarados’ success largely relied on the duo’s communication, whispered over-the-shoulder requests, and their distribution of tasks. While Alvarado Jr. tended to the stove and engaged with the audience, his father quietly minced and diced veggies.

“We practiced first to see what it’s like,” Alvarado Jr. said. “I’m going to tell him to do this and, if I can’t do it, I’ll tell my father to help and look.”

The duo believed that their creativity — and the oven-crisped cheese squares they placed atop their shrimp — stood out to the judges and snagged them second place.

“This was pretty fun with just me and him,” Alvarado Sr. said. “I’m just so proud of him.”

Team Belle Belle Redco

Having already competed in the Junior Chef competition three times, Nasah and her mother, Andrea, thought it only made sense to do it again.

Wearing red and black “Team Isabelle” shirts, the mother-daughter pair from Grass Valley whipped up a colorful chicken-tomato mixture in a crispy, potato-based shell. A sea of their rowdy cousins and friends cheered them on from the audience as they scurried between the stove and sink.

The teenage chef specializes in pastry baking but grew up in a family of cooks. Her uncle, Jamal Reddrick, aka ChefJ.Redd, is a personal chef in the area who specializes in plant-based meals.

“It’s just something we enjoy doing,” Andrea Nasah said. “We grew up knowing a big part of the home is actually the kitchen. So the bigger the kitchen, the better off we are.”

After watching a cooking competition on television three years ago, Isabelle urged her mother to enlist her in the state fair’s competition. This week’s competition marked her second win. Moving forward, she hopes to further cultivate her culinary skills and compete again next year.

“I plan on creating more and more,” Nasah said. “The culinary field is kind of competitive but hopefully I am able to go on Food Network and compete on the real show one day.”

This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM.