Chicago Nun Who Feeds The Hungry Wins 'Chopped'

By Kate Shepherd in Food on Nov 10, 2015 5:25PM

Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago via Crux

Sister Alicia Torres, 30, uses her cooking talent to make meals for Chicago's hungry and poor. On Monday night's episode of the Food Network's "Chopped", her talents earned her $10,000 for Mission of Our Lady of the Angels in Humboldt Park.

The Loyola University alumnus and nun hopes that her victory will help bring attention to hunger in our own city, according to the Tribune.

"Perhaps being on national TV and winning this competition will bring some attention to the issue of hunger and to the reality that God's love is so strong and so big, he can take this little nun from Chicago who never went to culinary school to compete," she told the Tribune. "Literally nothing is impossible with God."

The show pitted four chefs who've made a difference in their community against each other. They all cooked with traditional Thanksgiving ingredients including turkey, green beans, potatoes and cranberries. Torres made dinner with curry turkey, a sweet potato cranberry hash and a dipping sauce with goat cheese and green beans.

Torres was competing against another chef from Chicago—74-year-old Bonnie Kepplinger, a volunteer for The Crib, a homeless shelter for LGBT teenagers. Kepplinger lost in the second entree round and was so impressed with Torres that she expects her to be cooking on TV again.

"The Lord gave me this talent," Torres told the show's judges. "I believe the kitchen is my canvas where I get to express myself creatively."