We are excited to announce the winner and ask you to join us in celebrating the winner, finalists, and all the participants.

The grand prize winner of the 2021 Health Care Culinary Contest is: UW Health’s Afghan-style vegetable korma.

Shekeba Samadzada and Dan Hess from UW Health in Wisconsin brought comfort to refugees and impressed the judges with their winning recipe, Afghan-style vegetable korma. From selling out before the end of the day to strategies for serving plant-forward in the Midwest and how hospitals can be as ‘home-like’ as possible, hear how the winning chefs won our appetites and our hearts.

Read the story behind the recipe and get to know our winning chefs.

The winners’ accomplishment was celebrated at CleanMed 2022 in Kansas City, where the chefs received a plaque and the winning meal was served to participants. They will also be honored at the Culinary Institute of America’s upcoming Menus of Change Leadership Summit, June 14-16.

And a round of applause for our finalists.

• NYU Langone Health’s butternut squash & green pea farrotto
• Peace Health Saint Joseph’s Shoyu beet poke bowl
• Stanford Hospital’s wild mushroom birria
• Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System’s curry sweet potato power crunch bowl

Read about the chefs and their stories. Click on their names to download their recipes.