Team Coast Guard was named the Armed Forces Culinary Iron Chef Champions at the 2009 Armed Forces Iron Chef Competition on May 16 held at Olympic College in Bremerton, Wash.

The team of chefs from the ISC Seattle prepared five dishes in 60 minutes against seven other teams from Washington installations and units composed of Air Force, Army and Navy chefs. The secret ingredient was kumquat.

Team Coast Guard (from l to r) Petty Officer 2nd Class Ricky Uyeno, Petty Officer 1st Class Galen Varon, Senior Chief Petty Officer Lorn Gordy, Petty Officer 3rd Class Candace Gracik with son Romeo and Petty Officer 1st Class Doug van Kampen

Service members competed in five other events as part of the culinary competition: a chili cook-off, best barbecue ribs, hors d'oeuvres, cake decorating and a sugar art display. The team from Naval Base Kitsap was selected as the overall winner of the six-category competition.