Hummingbird Pastaria owner and chef Patrick Halloran is competing in the Five Star Food Fight at the Chattanooga Market Sunday, Aug. 7.Signal Mountain resident Patrick Halloran, chef and owner of Hummingbird Pastaria, is one of five local chefs chosen to participate in the Five Star Food Fight at the Chattanooga Market Sunday, Aug. 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
At about 11:30 that morning, judges will reveal the main ingredient – a protein – that the chefs must then build their dishes around. Each chef will be given $50 to purchase fresh ingredients from market vendors over the next half hour, and each is allowed an additional hour to prepare a dish for judging using a FiveStar cooking range.
Event emcee Kelley McCoy of KZ106 will give attendees the play-by-play as the chefs prepare their dishes between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Judges will select a winner based on creativity of the dish, taste and appearance, said Halloran, and the winner will receive a ticket to the 2016 World Food Championships, according to the Food Fight’s Facebook page.
Halloran said he was selected to participate after a customer did an article on Hummingbird for Chattanooga Magazine, and one of the magazine’s editors involved with the Chattanooga Market asked if he would be interested.
Having never done anything like it, and wanting to expose his food to a wider audience, he said he is happy for the opportunity.