Team

Application and application fee allows for entry into as many categories as team desires.

Turn-in times will be spread throughout the day to facilitate multi-entry teams. Times TBA.

CATEGORY GUIDELINES
(over $15,000 in cash prizes)

Turkey Burger Competition Guidelines (1st place-$2,000.00, 2nd Place $1,000.00, 3rd place $750.00)

May be served on any bread, bun, roll, tortilla, pita or cake of team’s choice • TURKEY BURGERS must be in the form of a patty • Single, double or triple patties and so on are acceptable • All toppings must be vegetarian • Bacon is not permitted • Sauces and condiments are completely up to the team • Entries need not be vegan or gluten free • All 4 TURKEY BURGERS turned in must be the same • TURKEY BURGERS may include any combination of condiments (such as ketchup, mayonnaise, salsa, and mustard), spreads (such as tapenade and pesto), sauces (such as barbecue or hot sauce), cheeses, and toppings (such as onions, tomatoes, avocados, and lettuce) • Unadorned wooden skewers may be used to hold burgers in place for presentation. •

Recommended Ground Turkey brand ________TBD_______ purchased from ________TBD__________

Quinoa Competition Guidelines (1st place $1,000.00, 2nd Place $750.00, 3rd place $500.00)

Any ingredients may be used with Quinoa • Remember however portion of your score will be on how well you bring out the essence of the Quinoa • Separate out 4 distinct portions for judging • Small bowls/plates will be provided to team for presentation •

Recommended Quinoa brand ________TBD_______ purchased from ________TBD______________

Tofu Competition Guidelines (1st place-$2,000.00, 2nd Place $1,000.00, 3rd place $750.00)

All ingredients used with Tofu must be vegetarian • Separate out 4 distinct portions for judging • Small bowls will be provided to team for presentation •

Recommended Tofu brand ________TBD_______ purchased from ________TBD______________

Fish Tacos (1st place-$1,000.00, 2nd Place $750.00, 3rd place $500.00)

All ingredients other than the fish used with Fish Tacos must be vegetarian • Make out 4 distinct Fish Tacos for judging • Fish Tacos must be served on a traditional corn tortillas (soft) • Must use either Halibut, Tilapia, Trout, Mahi, or Catfish • Fish may be prepared in any way (grilled, baked, broiled, etc.) EXCEPT fried • Recommended fish brand ________TBD_______ purchased from ________TBD______________

Guacamole Competition Guidelines (1st place $750.00, 2nd Place $500.00, 3rd place $250.00)

All ingredients used with Guacamole must be vegetarian • Chips for judging GUACAMOLE will be provided through EYHH and will be the same for every team • Separate out 4 distinct portions for judging • Small bowls will be provided to team for presentation •

Recommended Avocado brand ________TBD_______ purchased from ________TBD______________

Vinaigrette Competition Guidelines (1st place $750.00, 2nd Place $500.00, 3rd place $250.00)

Vinaigrette will be judged by tasting with a small spoon and/or a small salad of mixed greens • Any type of oil and vinegar may be used • Separate out 4 distinct portions for judging • Small bowls will be provided to team for presentation •

Recommended Oil and Vinegar brand ________TBD_______ purchased from ________TBD__________

Best Art Vendor/Exhibit Booth (1st place $250.00, 2nd $100.00, 3rd place $50.00)

Criteria based on 1) Cleanliness 2) Creativity in decoration and design

Best Team Competition Booth Area (1st place $250.00, 2nd $100.00, 3rd place $50.00)

Criteria based on 1) Cleanliness 2) Creativity in decoration and design

Best Team Name (1st place $250.00, 2nd $100.00, 3rd place $50.00)

Criteria based on Creativity In Team Name and The Name’s Alignment with This Specific Food Competition or The Eat Your Heart Happy Festival & Food Competition in General

GENERAL GUIDELINES

1. All fees other than cleanup deposit are NON-REFUNDABLE.

2. Each team is liable for any bodily or other harm as a direct result of negligence on the part of that team. By signing, you and your team members have read and agree to comply with all the Festival Rules and Regulations. You and your team members also agree to not hold Eat Your Heart Happy Festival & Food Competition, Xperience Productions, Xperience Memphis, Xperience365, Inc. Memphis Botanic Garden, Sidetraxx Productions, CouchJams, The American Heart Association, The Kitchen Community as well as any additional sponsors responsible for any accident or injury that may occur while at the event.

3. All teams must adhere to all electrical, fire, and other codes, by the city, county, state, and federal codes. Each team must have a fire extinguisher of a 2A, 40bc rating. Please check and make sure they are charged. All tarps and tents must be fire retardant with certification stating so.

4. Each contestant must comply with all applicable rules and regulations of the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department including, but not limited to the following: a. Meat must be stored at 35° F or less before cooking. Coolers with plenty of ice will keep it cold enough. b. After cooking the food items, they should be placed in a covered container and maintained at a safe temperature until submission to the judges. c. Cleanliness of the cook, assistants, and contestant area is required. d. NO live animals are allowed in the cooking area. This is grounds for disqualification. e. Each team MUST have hand-cleaning capabilities. Soap and water or waterless hand cleaner is acceptable.

5. Teams may cook on/with any cooking device they wish. Grills (Charcoal, propane, flat top, skillet, smoker, Egg, oven, etc.), ovens (gas or electric), stove tops (gas or electric), fryer, etc., are legal.

6. Each contestant must check-in upon arrival at with the festival organizers. A contestant number and a cooking area will be assigned according to date registered.

7. Electricity will be available at each team space. Water will be available only to fill buckets or pans. PLEASE DO NOT USE WATER TO WASH. IT WILL RUN INTO OTHER TEAM AREAS. NOT COOL!!!

8. GENERATORS MAY NOT BE USED! No exceptions!

9. Teams are to provide their own trash contains and liners for their area and are responsible of getting their trash to the dumpsters located at the festival.

10. Any tent larger than 10’ x 10’ must pull a permit and must be done prior to the festival. Permits are the responsibility of the team and failure to have the proper permit may result in your tent having to be removed from the festival grounds.

11. Clean up deposits will be disposed of ONLY if your team area is left in the same physical condition as it was found. That includes picking up any and all trash, including cigarette butts and beer can tabs. Any fencing that is damaged by a team will result in a forfeit of the cleanup deposit.

12. Teams may rent a Safety-Quip portable bathroom for their team space for an additional $100. See Application.

13. Space Assignments: All spaces are located on grass. While the Festival Committee makes every effort to ensure space assignments, space assignments cannot be guaranteed. The EYHH Festival Committee reserves the right to modify space assignments as may be required. All spaces are vehicle accessible for setup which you may begin after 3:00 PM on Friday, October 6th until 7:00 PM or then after 7:00 AM on Saturday, October 7th. You WILL NOT BE ALLOWED on Festival site after 7:00 PM on October 6th until 7:00 AM Saturday, so please make sure you booth is taken care of case of overnight weather. We will have security on the premises, but Eat Your Heart Happy, Memphis Botanic Garden and the security company are NOT responsible for your booth or contents within. We suggest setting up your tent, tables, and cooking devices the day before, and bringing your food and fun on Saturday. Set up needs to be completed by 11 AM on Saturday, October 7th

COMPETITION GUIDELINES

1. Chefs, restaurant staff, cooking hobbyists, backyard Joe’s, tailgaters, etc. may enter cooking competitions. Xperience Productions and Eat Your Heart Happy Festival & Food Competition reserve the right to deny any team entry into the cooking competitions and event.

2. Food trucks may compete at EYHH if they fit in the allotted area. Otherwise they must pay for additional space.

3. Each team may have as many members as they wish, however team competition fee will only include 5 (five) wristbands. Past that number, team members must pay entry fees. This is a charity event.

4. Items cooked for contest entry and its contents may not be pre-cooked, sauced, seasoned or maintained in any way prior to inspection at the beginning of the cooking contest. Use of any pre-cooked foods in competition will result in disqualification. We recognize that some items require some additional preparation and ask that you notify us prior to festival date for approval.

a. All competition foods must be assembled during the competition.

5. Each competing team shall supply all of their own foods, cooking ingredients, individual cooking devices, utensils, preparation tables, etc. See specific competition guidelines for required food types and recommended brands and purchase locations.

6. Eat Your Heart Happy will ONLY be providing the cooking area and electricity.

7. Items entered into competition must be cooked fully. Items not fully cooked or prepared improperly will be disqualified

8. Contestants are expected to turn in at least 4 of the SAME ITEMS for each category they are competing in for blind judging. Teams who submit different style foods (of the same category) in the same entry box or container will be disqualified immediately. a. One container will be provided to each team as a blind box. b. All 4 ITEMS MUST be placed inside the container. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.

9. Teams may use any garnish of their choosing only inside the container. Teams are asked to be reasonable with garnishes for the container, once opened, are presented to judges for the Presentation score.

10. There is to be NO BRANDING. Any markings, symbols, or attempts made by a team to link their foods or turn-in box back to their booth or name will result in disqualification.

11. Selling or giving away of foods from your booth is strictly prohibited unless to your team members or Sampler Judges. All foods and beverages MUST be kept within your booth area, food or beverages found outside your team booth and found to be from your team booth may result in disqualification.

JUDGING

1. We ask judges to not fraternize with teams on turn-in day until conclusion of judging.

2. Judging will be done by a team of 4 persons. Only Judges, Contest personnel and necessary support staff are allowed in judging area during the judging process. No other activities are permitted in the judging area, during judging process. • Judges must be willing to eat foods that are being judged • Judges should not have an aversion to eating all foods, toppings and condiments. • Judges will not have any known food allergies.

3. Judges Scoring will be based on 4 criteria. 1) Presentation (Physical presentation of how the foods look when turned in, color, creativity, use of garnishes/toppings). 2) Taste (which includes texture and flavor). 3) Essence (the Overall Essence of the Competition Ingredient, did the essence of the competition ingredient come out in the dish and taste, or did you throw a bunch of bacon into the quinoa to make it taste like bacon). 4) Description (what did you put in the dish and how would you describe it).

4. The scoring system for the first 3 (three) criteria: Presentation, Taste, and Essence is scored from 2 (two) to 10 (ten), all whole and half numbers between 2 (two) and 10 (ten) may be used to score an entry. 10 (ten) would be perfect, 9 (nine) is beyond excellent, 8 (eight) amazing, 7 (seven) above average, 6 (six) average, 5 (five) below average, 4 (four) poor, 3 (three) bad, and 2 (two) inedible. A Judge may only award a 10 (ten) score in one criteria per category and only if entry is deserving.

5. A score of 1 (one) is a disqualification and requires approval by a Contest Rep. Grounds for disqualification: All judges will give a 1 (one) in Presentation for unapproved garnish, pooled sauce or less than 4 samples turned in. All judges will give a 1 (one) in all criteria for branded food, a marked turn-in container, foreign object in the container, incorrect ingredient. All judges not receiving a sample will give a 1 (one) in all criteria.

6. The weighting factors for these 3 criteria’s point system are all even at 30% (the remaining 10% is divided into 5% from Sampler Judges and 5% from the Description Criteria).

7. The low Presentation, Taste and Essence scores will be thrown out. Results will be tallied. If there is a tie in one of the categories, it will be broken by the computer, as follows: The scores will be compared (counting all FOUR judges) for the highest cumulative scores in Essence, then Taste, then Presentation. If still tied, then the low score, which was thrown out, will be compared and the higher of the low scores will break the tie. If still tied, then a computer generated coin toss will be used.

8. Criteria #4, the Description Criteria: Along with their food, teams will submit a 4x6 index card with a Name for their entry and a menu style description (NOT A RECIPE) of it. For example, the Turkey Burger from team Where’s The Tofu? reads: TURKEY BURGER - Chargrilled and topped with smoked cheddar cheese, sautéed mushrooms onion straws, BBQ sauce, shredded lettuce & pickles on a buttered, toasted Kaiser roll. Teams are asked to be as descriptive as they want, but NOT to submit a recipe. This category will be scored by either a 10 (ten) or a 0 (zero). All teams that follow this guideline will receive a 10 (ten); a score of 0 (zero) will be given ONLY if no such description is tuned in.

9. Sampler Judge: All teams must have some of their competition category entry foods available at their booth for 1 hour after turn in time of that category for Sampler Judges to come around and judge. We recommend having other foods to feed them as well, as their regulations and judging requirements are not as stringent, and they may be swayed and lobbied. They will be scoring on the same system (excluding the description criteria) and their scores will count for 5% of your overall score in that category.

10. All results are final. Teams are reminded that this is friendly festival and cooking competition to raise money and awareness of healthy eating habits. Sportsmanship is required at all times.

11. Only a completed Cooking Competition/Team Application received by DATE TBA, 2017 along with separate checks for team entry fees & clean up deposit will reserve teams a spot. The first 20 completed applications are guaranteed entry in cooking competitions. Festival officials will try to accommodate additional entries.

12. A Mandatory Cooks Meeting will be held near the beginning of DATE TBA at a time and place still to be determined

13. Selling or giving away of foods from your booth is strictly prohibited unless to your team members or Sampler Judges.

14. Additional rules may and will be added as necessary

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The following criteria and scoring will be used for judging your Eat Your Heart Happy Food Competition turn-in entries.

Presentation: This score will be given once the container is opened. How does the entry look? We all know you taste with your eyes before food ever hits your mouth. Visually, how appealing is it? How do the 4 entries appear on the garnished or non-garnished container? Garnishing can and should help accent and even differentiate the product, but please keep in mind, you’re judging the appearance of entries, not the garnish. Garnish should only accent the product, not mask it.

Taste: how does the entry taste? How amazing was it? Or was it not so great? Be honest and truthful. Don’t fluff the score because you think they gave it a good try. Or if it’s amazing, score it as such. The teams really look to your feedback to know where they got it right or where they can improve.

Essence: Remember the category you are judging and does the entry’s taste hold true to that category. Did they mask the flavor of the essence ingredient?

Description: Along with their food, teams this year will submit a 4x6 index card with a Name for their entry and a menu style description (NOT A RECIPE) of it. For example, the Turkey Burger from team Where’s The Tofu? reads: TURKEY BURGER - Chargrilled and topped with smoked cheddar cheese, sautéed mushrooms onion straws, BBQ sauce, shredded lettuce & pickles on a buttered, toasted Kaiser roll. Teams are asked to be as descriptive as they want, but NOT to submit a recipe. This category will be scored by either a 10 (ten) or a 0 (zero). All teams that follow this guideline will receive a 10 (ten); a score of 0 (zero) will be given ONLY if no such description is tuned in.

Eat Your Heart Happy would like to thank Best Memphis Burger Fest for the basics and verbiage of these guidelines for our 1st year