St. Tammany Community Members Cook for a Cause

United Way Serving St. Tammany kicked off their 2007 Campaign Season with the 3rd Annual Red Beans ‘N Rice Cook-Off last month.  The event was hosted by St. Tammany Fire Protection District 1 and the St. Tammany Parish Department of Fire Services in the Slidell Municipal Auditorium.

17 teams entered their best recipes in three different categories: Best Tasting, People’s Choice, and Best Decorated Booth.  The Slidell Police Department team locked up first-place honors in the Best Tasting Category. American Home Security, entered as The Pirates of the Camellia Beans, took the second-place trophy in the tasting division.

Prudential Gardner Realtors won both the People's Choice Award and Best Decorated Booth honors. The People's Choice award was determined by the amount of money donated in jars placed on each entrant's table from the people sampling their beans.

More than $20,000 was raised for the United Way Serving St. Tammany, a $5,000 increase from the 2006 Cook-Off. All proceeds benefit United Way affiliated nonprofit organizations in St. Tammany.

District 1 Fire Prevention Chief Chris Kaufmann, chairman of the cook-off, announced plans to have two cook-offs on different days during the year. One will be held on the east side of the parish and one will be held on the west.

John O'Neil, director of St. Tammany Parish Department of Fire Services, will be the chairman of the West St. Tammany Red Beans 'n' Rice Cook-off and Kaufmann will continue to coordinate the benefit in the east.

Judges for the cook-off were Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price; Terry Patton of Patton's Restaurant; Connelly Hayward representing Camellia Beans (which donated all of the beans used in the contest,) Doug Mouton, WWL-Channel 4 television; and Slidell City Court Judge Jim Lamz.

"You usually think all red beans and rice are about the same," Lamz said. "You don't go in a restaurant and say, 'Give me 17 bowls of red beans and rice.' It was incredible. They were all so different. Some were tangy, some were spicy -- and I don't know what some were."

Entrants in this year's cook-off included Slidell Police Department; St. Tammany Parish Hospital; My Girlfriend's Kitchen; Slidell Memorial Hospital; Glitz, Glamour and Giving; Central Progressive Bank; East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce; Winn-Dixie; WOW Café and Wingery; Rainbow Child Care Center; Whitney Bank; Slidell Firefighters; Dan and Sam's Cleaning Service; Prudential Gardner; American Home Security; Capital One Bank; and the A.G. Crowe family.

Staff members from the Youth Service Bureau filled orders for drive-through traffic outside one of the auditorium entrances.

Shirleen Carter, executive director serving United Way St. Tammany, was delighted with results of the event.

"We have an awesome community that comes together to make a tremendous impact when meeting the needs of the community. That's what United Way is all about," Carter said.

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