Culinary

‘Foodtastic’ Disney Win for JWU Charlotte Team

Melinda Law
25 January 2022

The expression “Hakuna matata,” popularized by the Disney movie “The Lion King,” roughly means in Swahili, “No need to worry about things outside of your control.” This year, three JWU Charlotte artists applied that mantra to their journey of creating an eight-by-eight-foot Disney foodscape in a show called “Foodtastic” that requires competitors to transform everyday ingredients into works of art.

“We all knew our place and we all respected each other and trusted each other.”

Building the Lion King foodscape involved using fondant and modeling chocolate to sculpt an adolescent Simba, cake pops to create the wisecracking meerkat Timon, and micro sponge to design an umbrella tree. It all came together under three flavors of JWU culinary expertise: Associate Instructor Schellie Andrews '16 MBA, Adjunct Instructor Austin Scoles '18 and Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship student London Johnson '23. Calling themselves Team Storytellers, the trio flew to Los Angeles, Calif., to compete against two other teams in the Disney+ series “Foodtastic”’s “Lion King: Queen of the Jungle” episode.

A Balancing Act

Promotional image for the Disney+ show, “Foodtastic” Every group started with just one item: a log.

“It was about 16 hours of competition time,” Scoles explains. “These are three-dimensional characters balancing on a log, just the weight of it! My role was building up general sceneries, like making the umbrella tree out of chocolate ganache and micro sponge. London worked on the faces — sculpting is her expertise — and Schellie worked on the finer details, like carving fruits and vegetables to serve as vegetation and making things like the onion lotus flowers.”

“Disney gave us a specific picture of adolescent Simba ahead of time, showing what they were looking for,” Andrews adds. “We had a game plan, we were very organized and we stuck to our schedule. We had Zoom calls a couple of times a week, testing things out. On set, we used specific techniques and transformed the sculpture. When we were working everyone on the set seemed fascinated.”

During the filming of “Foodtastic,” Scoles described his work: “In order to cover the whole umbrella tree we need a ton of micro sponge that we are going to use for the leaves… We’re using NO2 (nitrous oxide) cartridges which is helping to aerate the batter and microwave to create a fluffy cake texture.”

Today, looking back at the experience, Scoles reflects, “We all knew our place and we all respected each other and trusted each other. Before the competition I didn’t even know London. When Schellie asked if I would join the team I tracked down London in class and introduced myself!”

Foundations of a Team

In November of 2020, a casting representative from the show emailed several JWU College of Food Innovation & Technology (CFIT) instructors asking if they would be interested in participating in “Foodtastic.”

Andrews was intrigued, especially since she used to live in Los Angeles, and decided to participate, which meant choosing two teammates. “I noticed London right away,” she says. “She’s super talented and an amazing cake decorator. She would test cakes for me, that’s how good she is. She really stood out in class.”

Scoles was another obvious choice. When he was a JWU student, he had been Andrews’ teaching assistant, and he has a history of successful competitions — including the Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge.”

“Over the years I’ve helped and watched competitors such as ‘Chef P,’” says Scoles. (Everyone calls Senior Instructor Harry Peemoeller “Chef P”; Peemoeller has assisted students during numerous competitions, in addition to presenting at the JWU Charlotte Bread Symposium.) “Watching others compete helps calm your nerves. You are here to do what you’ve practiced. Just execute your plan and trust your skills.”

Creating a Magical Foodscape

Those skills include knowing what you need ahead of time to get the job done — in this instance, a massive shopping list fit for a (lion) king!

The foodscape involved loads of buttercream and cake; leeks, carrots, peppers and cranberry for the flora; piping gel that gave the buttercream river a watery shimmer; coffee grounds to give the log some texture; and Disney+ threw in a surprise barrel of grubs that all teams needed to incorporate into their sculpture. Team JWU had Simba and Timon eating them, with Timon appearing to throw them into the air and into Simba’s grinning mouth.

On camera, Johnson told the judges of her teammates, “I hope I did them justice because they trusted me, and I just wanted to make sure I did the best I could do, that I could put everything out there for them.”

“How old are you?” she was asked.

“I’m 20.”

“Girl, you are full of talent. That face is so well executed; it’s definitely adolescent Simba. Please explore that talent because you’re great!”

“It was such an honor for me to work with both of them. I’ve taught for quite a long time, and it’s always very heartwarming when I get to work with amazing students that I learn from as well.”

Sweet Success Built on a Classroom Connection

Johnson and her JWU team were more than great. On a magical set that only Disney could create, filled with bubbles and colors and music in addition to the backdrop of the team’s Simba creation, it was announced that Andrews, Scoles and Johnson had won. (You can watch the video on Facebook here.)

“It was such an honor for me to work with both of them,” an emotional Andrews shared on the show. “I’ve taught for quite a long time, and it’s always very heartwarming when I get to work with amazing students that I learn from as well. So this has been really an honor for me.”

“We all went to JWU at different times,” Scoles says. “It was rewarding to see it all come together. We share one thing in common, food art, and it brought us together. Ultimately, we wouldn’t have known each other if it wasn’t for JWU.”

Walt Disney made magic by mixing imagination with drive. The same can be said for three JWU culinary artists who didn’t let anything distract them from telling a great story through food.