From Greek gyros to Thai noodles, cuisine from around the world was showcased at this year’s “Iron Chef” cooking competition through the Boulder Valley School District.

The annual competition tasks middle schoolers with creating dishes that could work as lunch menu dishes for the school district. On Wednesday, five teams of middle schoolers cooked their recipes for judges at the district’s new teaching kitchen in its Culinary Center.

The winning team gets their unique dish added to the menu rotation for the upcoming school year. There’s even a chance for the dish to stay on the menu as a permanent item, if it’s popular enough.

“We have things on our menu that have been on there for years from this competition,” said Marissa Benson, program and grants coordinator for BVSD Food Services. “If it catches on, we’ll keep it on.”

Each team had to make a dish that included a protein, grain and fruit or vegetable. They were also encouraged to draw inspiration from international flavors and cuisines.

This year marks the 15th edition of the cooking competition. On Wednesday, the kitchen bustled with activity as the students spent roughly an hour slicing, dicing, grilling, baking, and frying.

“These kids have all worked so diligently on their dishes and their ability to produce them under pressure,” said Doug Kazarosian, cook-off announcer and warehouse manager for the Culinary Center.

This year’s winners were Lyra Schwarz and Megan Firth, who are both seventh graders at Louisville Middle School. They made Brazilian cheese bread and a Puerto Rican stew called “asopao.” Lyra said she got her asopao recipe from her grandmother. “It’s been passed down from family member to family member,” Lyra said.On top of getting their dish on next year’s lunch menu, Lyra and Megan also won $300 for Louisville Middle School.

The other dishes in the competition were orange chicken, gyros, Thai noodles, and Jamaican jerk chicken. Students presented their meals to the judges and explained why they chose their recipes.

“We wanted something that was easy to make, affordable, and that you could scale up,” said Summit Middle School student Jack Arnold. Jack and his partner Xaxi Ogemahgeshi made orange chicken.

Last year’s competition was also held at the Culinary Center, but the students used camping stoves on folding tables to make their meals.

This year, the students were able to use the teaching kitchen’s professional-grade cooking stations and equipment.

“The whole reason that this kitchen was created was for our future chefs,” said culinary arts instructor Amber Graff. “Every day we have juniors and seniors in here, but then to also see the next generation of kids in here is really inspiring.”

This year’s team of eight judges included Broomfield High School junior Armando Hernandez.

Hernandez, 16, takes culinary classes at Broomfield High. As a judge, Hernandez said he wanted to acknowledge the students’ passion for cooking and give them constructive criticism.

“At their age, I would have never done this,” Hernandez said. “I’d think going into a competition would be a little bit scary. But they seem really confident, and I’m, overall, really proud of them. I think they should be really proud of themselves.”