Cast a vote for Clear Creek Amana superintendent to compete in a national cooking competition

OXFORD — Clear Creek Amana schools Superintendent Corey Seymour has the chance at a $25,000 prize in a national cooking competition — and he needs your vote.

If Seymour wins, he plans to donate the money to the culinary program in the Clear Creek Amana Community School District. He also will be featured in a two-page spread in Taste of Home magazine.

Seymour said he came across the competition about three weeks ago because of his “foodie” connections. He applied by preparing several dishes — shrimp pasta, his son’s favorite shrimp fried rice and brussels sprouts — and submitting photos of them to the competition.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Seymour ranked third out of almost 90 competitors in his group. If he places first in his group, he will get to be on a competitive cooking show called “Favorite Chef.” A filming and run date for the episode has yet to be announced.

Votes can be cast for Seymour at favchef.com/2023/corey-seymour. Voting ends June 22 at 9 p.m. Each person can cast a free daily vote once every 24 hours. A “champion vote” can be cast at any time with a financial donation.

Seymour said he plans to make fried chicken, red beans and rice, greens, cornbread and peach cobbler if he wins first place in his group and is invited on to the show — a meal that “provides comfort to my family,” he said.

Being on the show would mean bringing “really positive publicity” to Eastern Iowa, said Seymour, who moved to Iowa from Texas just last year for the superintendent position. “It gives me an opportunity to highlight what we’re doing in our community.”

Although Seymour loves cooking, he said he’s “not a chef,” since he hasn’t been professionally trained. He learned to cook at a young age “for survival purposes” because his mother worked two jobs to help make ends meet, he said.

Later, Seymour found joy in making a good meal for people and watching it bring them happiness, he said.

“Recipes have been passed from generation to generation and speak volumes about family history without saying a word besides ‘mmm this is good,’” Seymour said in his bio on favchef.com. “It is the one thing that allows a person to taste love from the hands that made it. A well made dish has the ability to change the entire mood of a situation and create smiles from the first bite.”

As a school leader, Seymour said he makes time to cook most dinners for his family because he “loves doing it.” He also spends time on the weekends preparing food for the rest of the week.

Seymour said the $25,000 prize money would enable the district to purchase much-needed equipment for the high school culinary program, including a commercial refrigerator and stove. In the program, students “cultivate their passion for cooking,” he said.

The culinary kitchen was a part of a $36 million bond referendum approved by voters in the Clear Creek Amana School District in 2017, which created funding for an addition to be built on to the high school.

The competition is being hosted by Colossal Management, LLC, a nationally registered professional fundraiser. It will benefit the James Beard Foundation, a nonprofit that “celebrates, supports and elevates the people behind America’s food culture,” according to the website.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com