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Tips for Judging 4-H Foods & Nutrition

4-H is a club for youth ages 8 to 19 years who pledge their head to clearer thinking, heart to greater loyalty, hands to larger service and health to better living for their club, community, country and world. Coupled with the 4-H pledge is the 4-H motto, "Making the Best Better." It is the responsibility of a 4-H judge to uphold the motto by helping members improve their projects. Food and nutrition judges must be well-versed in cooking, canning and baking, as well as health foods.

  1. County 4-H Show

    • Judges at a county 4-H show evaluate projects on quality and adherence to guidelines. 4-H members are required to bring a healthy meal plan that uses all the foods in the food pyramid, in addition to their own completed project. Judges also select exceptional projects to advance to the state fair. 4-H members are eligible to advance to the state level if they pass the state fair age requirement and follow the project guidelines. Besides inspecting projects and evaluating presentations, judges need to give encouragement, helpful criticism and ideas to each competitor.

    State Fair

    • 4-Hers are only allowed to show food and nutrition at the state fair if they have been selected from their county 4-H show. State fair food and nutrition projects are graded more heavily on creativity, knowledge and presentation. Judges need to critically evaluate the project, as well as provide prompt feedback to the participant. Genuine praise and advice on the project, knowledge, research and presentation need to be voiced during the project interview.

    Presentation

    • Demonstrations and displays require a visually appealing exhibit that clearly communicates what the project is about and includes in-depth research on nutrition and food. 4-H members showing cooking and canning projects need to give a thorough overview of how they completed their project: what they learned, tips and tricks to make their food better, explanation on why certain steps need to be followed (i.e. sifting, greasing pans etc).

    Questions and Feedback

    • 4-H members at the county and state levels present their project to the judge by explaining what the project is about. In return, judges need to ask questions specific to the project. For example: "What foods would you serve with your project?" "How would you change the recipe?" Judges need to have a good grasp on nutrition, cooking, baking and canning and have a strong background working with food. In addition, the judge needs to offer advice on how to improve the project. For example: properly using time and temperature, placing foil over bread to prevent browning, keeping water from evaporating during the canning process.

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