Dining with kids doesn’t always have to include chain restaurants. A new culinary competition is setting kids with cooking talent up with some of Texas’ top chefs for a live competition featuring organic produce. The contest is open to kids from throughout the state, including San Antonio.
Applications will open October 15, and even if a culinary-minded kid doesn’t make the cut, the whole family can still enjoy the in-person event at Hope Full Farm in Dripping Springs next April.
The four participating chefs in the inaugural Farm to Fork Junior Chef Challenge are billed as Central Texans, presumably because of where the competition is held, but they are all based in Austin. Youth competitors from 12-17 years old can look forward to being paired with one of the following chefs as a mentor:
Calling these pros the area’s top chefs isn’t a PR spin; they’ve been some of the most influential people in Texas food for the past several years and show no signs of slowing down. There are few equally powerful mentors in Austin food, and none objectively better. Edgar Rico is especially qualified after winning the Michelin Guide’s prestigious Young Chef Award in 2024.
The produce used will be grown at Hope Full Farm, a nonprofit that was established to address childhood hunger. It practices regenerative agriculture, a practice that includes rotating crops, native planting, planning for pollinators, capturing rainwater, and avoiding chemical pesticides.
On the farm’s website, it shares that “The Young Farmers Coalition surveyed more than 10,000 young farmers in 2022 and found 86 percent practice regenerative farming.” However, because a significant challenge for those farmers is accessing farmland, Hope Full Farm sets aside some of its land to give them a place to learn and build their own practices. The farm also donates produce totaling “tens of thousands of pounds” since it opened in 2021, according to a press release.
In addition to helping junior chef participants with mentorship, the competition will raise funds to support the farm’s missions of alleviating childhood food insecurity and supporting regenerative farming on a long-term scale.
Finally, kids will win a scholarship for their efforts. The first-place prize is $2,000, followed by second-, third-, and fourth-place prizes of $1,000, $500, and $250, respectively. All competitors will win something.
Guests at the event will get to see the live competition and enjoy some snacks. There will also be musical performances by other youth participants, plus farm tours and kids’ activities to get people of all ages involved.
More information about the chefs, the competition, and the applications when they open is available at hopefullfarm.org. The competition will take place Saturday, April 11, 2026, from 11 am to 2 pm. Hope Full Farm is located at 2406 W. Fitzhugh Rd., Dripping Springs, a little more than an hour’s drive from San Antonio.