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Feeding Tampa Bay is taking applications for the next class of ‘Epic Chef’ competitors

The winner gets a $5,000 prize and more.

By Ray Roa on Thu, Feb 22, 2024 at 12:41 pm

Photo by Kate Scaglione c/o Feeding Tampa Bay

Jada Vidal (L) and Adrianna Siller during Feeding Tampa Bay's 'Epic Chef' finale at the Epicurean Theatre in Tampa, Florida on July 17, 2024.

For the last eight years, nonprofit Feeding Tampa Bay has spent its summer putting local chefs through the thrilling gauntlet of its “Epic Chef” competition.

The “Chopped”-style cooking tournament hosted at the Epicurean Theatre in South Tampa asks culinarians to create unique dishes with secret ingredients, revealed at showtime.

In 2024, selected chefs will participate in a kickoff reception, plus preliminary rounds (July 22 & 29) that’ll send the winner to the “Epic Chef” finale on Monday, Aug. 5.

The winner will receive the renowned Marty Blitz Award—named for the famed chef of Tampa’s Mise en Place—along with a $5,000 prize and custom knife roll.

And for the first time ever, Feeding Tampa Bay is opening up applications to anyone who thinks they have what it takes to make it to the finale showdown and take home the “Epic Chef” crown.

Only four chefs will be selected for the competition, and applicants must be 18 years old and come from one of the 10 counties where Feeding Tampa Bay provides food insecure families and individuals with much-needed relief.

A press release says, “The competing chefs will be determined by a selection committee composed of Tampa Bay's best taste buds, including Chef Marty Blitz himself.”

Applications should be submitted via jotform.com. The deadline to apply is March 15.

Slideshow

Photos: St. Pete Chef Adrianna Siller advances after first-ever ‘Epic Chef’ tiebreaker

(L-R) Adrianna Siller and Jada Vidal at Epicurean hotel's culinary theater in Tampa, Florida on July 17, 2023.

Click to View 124 slides

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About The Author

Ray Roa

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief in August 2019. Past work can be seen at Suburban Apologist, Tampa Bay Times, Consequence of Sound and The...

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