By Joshua Wolpe, DENVER DAILY NEWS
As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, the Cook Street School of Culinary Arts is giving those of you who think you know Denver’s food scene a unique chance to prove it with the Foodie Photo Scavenger Hunt. The contest started this week, and runs through Aug. 29.
Here’s the idea: embark on a culinary adventure, take some cool photos of your adventure and get a chance to win prizes including a scholarship to Cook Street or a package of recreational classes and cooking gear.
Participants will be given a list of various food-related tasks to be performed around Denver, each of which are assigned a point value. There is a bit of secrecy involved in the competition — participants won’t know how many points others have in the hunt until all is said and done.
After participants complete a set of food-oriented photo tasks, they will upload photos to Flickr or Facebook and forward their albums to Cook Street for judging.
“We want people to get reacquainted with Cook Street and who we’re affiliated with, as well as give people a chance to discover the great little neighborhood places all around town,” said Cook Street COO Terry Freeman. “Denver has all of these little unique areas.”

Evolving taste
Cook Street is located downtown at 19th and Market Streets. Their 10 years of existence has coincided with a flurry of restaurant development in Denver.
Freeman has seen a rising level of food knowledge and interest in Denver as new restaurants have taken hold.
“I think our base is getting more and more educated,” she said. “I attribute that to The Food Network and people wanting to try new things. The Denver palate is getting increasingly diverse.”
In an effort to refine that palate, Cook Street offers “Local Bounty Classes,” which include upcoming lessons in Colorado artisan cheese, Colorado grilling and Front Range mushrooms.
The scavenger hunt’s top prize is a $3,200 scholarship to the Cook Street 180 Professional Culinary Program. Do you think you have what it takes?
“We want people to go out there, have some fun and do something different,” said Freeman.
Visit cookstreet.com/anniversary for a complete list of rules.

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters