New York, NY -- For years, men have dominated the chef profession. But that may change soon, if the gender split at an upcoming "Best Teen Chef In America" contest is any indication.

A whopping 14 out of the 18 competitors in the Art Institutes-sponsored event May 16 and 17 are girls.

They include: 17-year-old Violette Tafoya, who started cooking at age 3; 18-year-old Davicia Sughrim, who helped her father develop a line of spice rubs; and Allyson Ames, 18, who owns more than 500 cookbooks.

All the budding chefs have to prepare the same chicken dinner and each of the girls is training for the big day in the same way -- by preparing that chicken time after time.

Ames has done it five times, Sughrim seven and Tafoya has made it 10 times, giving the finished product to "whoever's not sick of it yet."

The winner gets a full scholarship to any of the Art Institutes culinary schools.

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