Page 26 - Barbecue News DEC 2020 Digital Issue
P. 26

 MNBS member dominates World Food Championships
 Minnesota Barbecue Society
member, Max Nelson, of Montana
Max BBQ, recently swept the
World Food Championships Vir-
tual competition, running away
with 3 category wins from a field
of over 650 entrants. Earlier this
year, Max qualified for the World
Food Championships by taking
first place for the state of Min-
nesota in the WFC’s Taste of
America Competition. The Min-
nesota win qualified Max to com-
pete at the live competition in
Dallas, TX, but due to the pan-
demic, the competition was re-
vamped as a virtual battle this year, open only to qualified individuals to throw down in 10 categories.
As the first place winner in 3 categories, Max was named the overall
champion
this year,
taking home the most prize money and bragging rights. We recently caught up with Max to talk about his achieve- ments.
Stan: “Max, tell us how you got started at
the World Food Championships, have you competed there before?” Max: This was my first encounter competing in the World Food Championships. Starting as a KCBS competitor and falling in love with Food Sport, I actively seek out new venues to compete in. Having friends that compete in World Food, it was a natural fit to jump in head first and try and compete with some of the best Food Sport competitors on the largest food sporting stage in the world.
Stan: “Was competing virtually more difficult than a live- fire competition”?
Max: Both ways of competing have their own distinct chal- lenges. The World Food Virtual Competition required orig-
inal recipes to accom- pany the photo sub- missions. This was its own distinct challenge in this compe- tition. With judges un- able to actu- ally taste your dishes, this was the critical part of the com- petition to craft a recipe
  BarbecueNews.com - 26
DECEMBER 2020






































































   24   25   26   27   28