PCI students win ACF Western Regional Conference

The Professional Culinary Institute's (PCI) student hot food team won first place at the 2010 American Culinary Federation (ACF) Western Regional Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, N.M., Feb. 6 to 8. The team will compete for the national title against three other winning regional teams at the 2010 ACF National Convention in Anaheim, Calif., Aug. 2 to 5.

(l to r) Reilly Meehan and Tiffany Young carefully put the finishing touches on their cold-food presentation at the ACF Western Regional Conference

The five winning students representing the Santa Clara Valley chapter of PCI are: Tiffany Young, Patricia Liu, Girija Kaushik, Reilly Meehan and Khuong Nguyen. The team is coordinated by Lanni Wui, coached by chef Jeremy MacVeigh and managed by chef Randy Torres, CEC.

PCI's winning student team (l to r): Tiffany Young, Khuong Nguyen, Girija Kaushik, Patricia Liu and Reilly Meehan

Teams from Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington competed at the event, which consisted of cold-food presentation, skills salon and cooking.