Food-service contest returns

Entries are being accepted for General Mills' annual Neighborhood to Nation Recipe Contest, in which independent family or "neighborhood" restaurants and food trucks have a chance to win cash and prizes while enabling charitable contributions to their own communities. The contest is open to food-service operators, chefs and line cooks who develop and prepare recipes for menu items served at independent, commercial restaurants or food trucks. Their original recipes must use at least one ingredient from General Mills' list of eligible food-service products.

Five regional recipe winners will each receive $5,000 in cash and an additional $1,000 to share with a community charity of their choice. One of the five also will be named the Grand Prize Recipe Winner and get an additional $25,000 and $5,000 to share with a local charity, plus a trip to the 2018 New York City Wine & Food Festival. Entry deadline is April 30. For contest details, visit NeighborhoodtoNation.com.

Wisconsin cheesemakers victorious

Once again Wisconsin cheesemakers claimed the spotlight at the World Championship Cheese Contest, held recently in Madison, Wis. The state's cheesemakers won more awards than any other U.S. state or country. Five of the top 20 global cheese finalists in contention for World Champion were from Wisconsin. This year's contest drew a record-breaking 3,402 entries from 26 countries and 32 U.S. states. Wisconsin captured 147 awards, or 40 percent of all awards, five times more than its closest competitor, New York, with 26 awards, followed by Switzerland and the Netherlands with 19 awards each. For a complete listing of Wisconsin's awards, visit WisconsinCheese.com.

You put pineapple in what?

Can sacrilege taste delicious? Apparently so. The Washington Post reports that the winner of the recent annual World's Pasty Championships in Cornwall, England, was not filled with the traditional beef, potatoes and onions, but with barbecue chicken, sweet potato, zucchini, red pepper, sweet corn and — brace yourself — pineapple. Even more ghastly, the winner, Pure Pasty Co., hails from Vienna, Va. It was the first American win at the international competition that celebrates the hearty handheld pastry that English miners famously ate for lunch. Pure Pasty is owned by a British expat, though.

Quiche gets a fond nod

Boy, the old Dayton's logo is popping up a lot these days. Most recent sighting: In a notice about the event formerly known as the Dayton's Flower Show (then Marshall Field, then Macy's) which has been relocated from downtown Minneapolis to Edina's Galleria from March 25 through April 8. In homage to Dayton's legendary Oak Grill quiche of the day, Pittsburgh Blue will feature a spring crab quiche during the flower show's run.

KIM ODE