Sailors from aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) took part in a culinary training school and competition over seven weeks, Jan. 17-March 11.

The 42nd annual Military Culinary Arts Competitive Training event, held in Virginia, included all branches of the military and consisted of six weeks of hands-on training at Fort Pickett, concluding with a weeklong competition at Fort Lee.

Representing John C. Stennis were Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Selima Rougier and Culinary Specialist Seaman Amanda Allen, both from New York City; and Culinary Specialist Seaman Joseph Lucas, from Nashville, North Carolina.

Lucas received the 2017 Best In Class award for the training program.

"For my competition meal I cooked a trout with white wine beurre blanc, asparagus, tomato concasse, potato tourne and a carrot puree," said Lucas. "Overall I'd say it was really fun. I learned a lot, and together we put a lot of time into training and I'm grateful for the opportunity."

For the competition, each contestant was allotted 50 minutes to prepare his or her meal and one hour to cook it.

"This was the first time I've been in a culinary competition," said Rougier. "It was new to me, but we had a lot of support and great instructors during training."

To be considered for the training course, each contestant had to fill out an application for potential selection.

"It was really competitive," said Allen. "I also learned a lot, and it was really good for me to be able to participate in this competition so early in my Navy career. I'll definitely be taking away a few lessons and experience from this."

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For more news on USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), visit http://www.stennis.navy.mil or http://www.facebook.com/stennis74.