Shawnie Jones displays her culinary handiwork at the Mac & Cheese Cookoff with her secret recipe Mac’Alicious. Shawnie Jones is chef and owner of Chicago Eats Market Place. Photos by Helen Quinn Pasin.
By Laurie Casey
Chicago’s West Side has a new Queen of Mac. Shawnie Jones, chef and owner of a catering business, created the delectable recipe, “Mac’Alicious Macaroni”—which utilized Gouda cheese, sour cream and a premium grade butter to make it stand out—to win the Best of the West Mac & Cheese Cookoff.
Held in conjunction with Austin Eats’ Chef Showcase and Movie Night on October 11, the Best of the West Mac & Cheese Cookoff drew 10 professional and home cooks to compete for the top prize. They brought their tastiest mac recipes to the event, and dished up tastings to more than 125 people who voted on their favorite dish.
An enthusiastic vote for Shawnie’s #5 entry out of 10 total contestants.
“Becoming a winner, after having second thoughts of being in a competition, was mind blowing,” said Shawnie. “I never entered competitions in the food industry because I know how hard chefs/cooks work to master creative dishes. . . I felt we are all winners; however, winning for my Mac'Alicious Macaroni was well deserved! After years of perfecting my recipe, it paid off. . . I’m honored.”
Shawnie runs Chicago Eats Market Place, a certified minority-owned, corporate caterer that specializes in breakfasts and lunches for business meetings as well as Chicago Public Schools. She won a certificate and check for $100 (which she graciously donated back to Austin Eats) and of course bragging rights as the reigning champion.
When the winner was announced at the event, the whole auditorium exploded in applause, as attendees spent a lot of time considering their options and felt invested in the result.
The other mac dishes were evaluated by a panel of three judges on a variety of categories, including “best noodle,” “most veggie-friendly,” and “creamiest.” The youngest contestant, David, a teenager, submitted a yummy and healthy vegan spin on the classic dish. Meylinda Bunch, another professional chef based on Chicago’s South Side, won “most creative recipe” for her Susie Q’s Mac dish.
About 200 people attended the Austin Eats Chef Showcase and Movie Night. Shawnie and her table are at left.
Austin Eats, a collaboration among Chicago-area organizations Austin Coming Together, One Earth Film Festival, Bethel New Life, and over 20 other organizations working toward a more equitable and healthy food system in Chicago’s Austin community. Austin Eats’ Chef Showcase and Movie Night drew more than 225 attendees and volunteers to Bethel New Life, a vibrant community center on Chicago’s West Side.
Attendees watched “High on the Hog: Our Founding Chefs,” which explores the history of black culinary innovation, including the invention of Mac & Cheese by James Hemings, an enslaved chef working in the White House in the late 1700s. This fact inspired the Best of the West Mac & Cheese Cookoff.
Attendees also enjoyed a rich, thoughtful, and important dialogue for our critical times—led by Veah Larde, professional chef and manager of Austin Town Hall City Market and panelists Robbie Wilkerson, owner, Urban Essentials Cafe, Sharon (Niecey) McKinnie, manager and chef at MacArthur's Restaurant, and Ranisha White, student, Washburne Culinary and Hospitality Institute at Kennedy King College and Austin Grown alumnus.
The event began with pickling demonstrations by Aniki Coates, gardener at Bethel New Life, dinner bites catered by Qia Carswell of Chicago Style Vegan and Jermaine Abdual of Spirit and Soul Catering, as well as tabling activities by our community partners, A House in Austin, Chicago Grows Food, University of Illinois Extension, SNAP Education, Austin Community Food Co-Op and Austin Coming Together.
Top photo: the winning recipe, Mac’Alicious, by Shawnie Jones, chef and owner of Chicago Eats Market Place.