MCC Daily Tribune
SUNY Chancellor King Celebrates Campus Chefs Competing in Annual SUNY Battle of the Chefs
Third Annual Battle of the Chefs Competition Brings Together Culinary Teams from Dining Centers Throughout the SUNY System to Create Dishes to Meet a Wide Range of Dietary Needs
Verona, NY — State University of New York Chancellor John B. King Jr. celebrated the SUNY campus chefs who competed in the third annual Battle of the Chefs competition on Tuesday. The competition, held during the State University of New York Auxiliary Services Associate’s (SASA) annual conference, brought together culinary teams from SUNY campus dining centers throughout New York State to showcase their skills in creating delicious dishes to help meet diverse dietary needs. A special focus was placed on chefs preparing dining options with sustainable sourcing, as well as addressing dietary needs such as gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan.
“SUNY’s dining centers play an important role in ensuring our students have access to high-quality, delicious food they need to thrive and to feel welcome and included,” SUNY Chancellor King said. “The SUNY Battle of the Chefs highlights the excellent work done daily by the chefs and culinary experts at our campuses to ensure all SUNY students can access food that meets their dietary needs. I commend each of our chef competitors, and everyone who helps ensure SUNY campuses have great tasting, nutritional food available for every one of our students.”
The SUNY Board of Trustees said, “SUNY students deserve outstanding culinary options as they strive for academic excellence at campuses throughout our state. This friendly competition between SUNY campus chefs helps showcase the great dining options that students are able to enjoy and helps promote the sharing of recipes and ideas. We congratulate all of the participants at this year’s Battle of Chefs and thank them for their commitment to our students and addressing their dietary needs.”
Nine SUNY culinary teams from the State University of New York at Binghamton, SUNY Brockport, SUNY Cortland, SUNY Delhi, Mohawk Valley Community College, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Purchase, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook participated in this year’s competition, with four chefs from each SUNY campus. The chefs were tasked with creating a tapas-style dish using an assigned protein and within a specific budget. The competition also tasked the culinary teams with creating dishes that meet multiple dietary needs, including gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and other nutritional needs.
The nine SUNY teams are eligible to win one of two awards – Judges’ Choice, based on a panel of chefs from Turning Stone Resort Casino, and People’s Choice, based on the attendees’ selection. The culinary team from SUNY Purchase won the Judges’ Choice, and the culinary team from the State University of New York at Binghamton won the People’s Choice.
The Battle of the Chefs competition highlights the exceptional culinary offerings available at campuses throughout the SUNY System, as well as the ongoing work of the staff at SUNY’s dining centers to ensure students have access to high-quality meals that fit their dietary needs.
SUNY has led efforts to help all students feel welcome and part of their campus community, including through the expansion of access to inclusive campus dining, which was included in Chancellor King’s 2025 State of the University agenda (PDF). To support inclusiveness and different cultures within food service and on-campus dining, SUNY has pledged to create model provisions for inclusive cuisine to be included in dining contracts, and SUNY is working with local businesses and the New York State Small Business Development Center to increase the availability of local food on campus.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, 12 Educational Opportunity Centers, over 30 ATTAIN digital literacy labs, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.7 million students across its portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum.
Veronica Chiesi Brown
Community Relations
01/07/2026