Kristen Mellott of Freeport chats with her son, Eddie Mellott, Friday during the Moxie Festival Recipe Contest at Lisbon High School. Eddie Mellott, 12, made Moxie Brownies for the competition. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

LISBON — “Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom.”

You don’t need to teach that aphorism to Eli Macvane. Eli has won first place in the Moxie Recipe Contest’s dessert category for the last two years in a row. And, he’s also only 13-years-old.

Friday’s Moxie Recipe Contest looked a lot like MasterChef Jr. It was brimming with skillful young chefs eager to chat, share their wisdom on cooking and voice their opinion on Lisbon’s most loved beverage: Moxie.

The number of child contestants in this year’s contest was unprecedented, according to Moxie Recipe Contest organizer Lisa Ward. Many of the kids were also competing in the contest for the very first time.

Noticing the young chefs, many event-goers wondered why there was no category specifically for children.

The answer? They didn’t need one. These gifted young gourmands dominated the competition, seizing more than their share of competition glory. Two of the top spots in each category, besides main dish and crowd favorite, were clenched by Moxie loving cooks under the age of sixteen. In the extremely competitive dessert category, the 1st and 2nd place winners were both children as well.

While some adults may have underestimated him, Macvane was confident in his culinary skills — and his ability to win.

When asked why he was competing in the recipe contest, Macvane proudly shared his winning entry in last year’s competition: Moxie ice cream sandwiches.

For this year’s contest, Macvane cooked up a tray of mouthwatering Moxie cream puffs.

Macvane explained that he chose the dish because “I want to challenge myself.”

“They’re a tiny bit harder than what I did last year.”

Macvane started participating in the Moxie Recipe Contest because he has a passion for baking. He said he loves the pastime just as much as he loves Frank Anicetti’s beloved soda.

Not all the child winners were experienced pros like Macvane.

For 15-year-old Daelyn Faber and 12-year-old Iliana Gray, this was their first Moxie Recipe Contest. Both girls walked away with second-place awards in the dessert and appetizer categories respectively.

Like Macvane, Faber has the aura of a champion.

“I decided to do the competition because my family is participating and I thought, ‘I might as well win,'” said Faber.

Her response was a pleasant surprise to her grandmother, Patti Bailey, who explained that Faber had been apprehensive about participating in the contest and even considered dropping out. Bailey said that she gave her granddaughter a pep talk two days ago. She told her not to worry about making mistakes and that “all that mattered was trying” and putting forth her best effort. Mostly, however, she encouraged her to just have fun with it.

Eli Macvane, 13, of Lisbon Falls reacts Friday after it was announced that his Moxie Cream Puffs won first place in the dessert category of the Moxie Festival Recipe Contest at Lisbon High School. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Faber must have taken her grandmother’s advice to heart because, by the time the competition started, she had a winning attitude — and recipe.

When asked why she settled on Moxie brownie cupcakes, Faber shared that her familiarity with the decadent treat played a big role.

“I’ve made brownies quite a few times in the past,” she explained. “I’ve been told they’re pretty decent.”

As she was perfecting her recipe, however, Faber faced a serious dilemma. The brownie cupcakes’ chocolate flavor was overpowering its “distinctively different” secret ingredient.

“You couldn’t really taste the Moxie,” she lamented.

Not one to back down from a challenge, Faber came up with an innovative solution. She created a Moxie-infused filling and frosting to give her second-place brownie cupcakes that iconic spunky flavor.

For a chef so concerned about capturing the flavor of Moxie, Faber, surprisingly, isn’t a big fan of it.

“It tastes like root beer, but gross,” she whispered.

Realizing that she was outnumbered by orange-wearing, Moxie-drinking “Maine-iacs,” she reconsidered her answer, “Moxie is good, but it’s a bit … different.”

Whatever her true feelings are on Maine’s official soft drink, Faber thinks her dish has a superior flavor profile to the soda, one that’ll appeal to the beverage’s most diehard fans and its most passionate haters.

It’s tastier because “it’s sweeter since I boiled it down to a syrup,” she asserted confidently.

Bailey also spoke proudly of Faber’s sister, Arianna, 17. Although she was unable to make the contest, Arianna’s entry of a Moxie cherry cake, was one of the dishes vying for the top prize in the dessert category.

“She soaked the cherries in Moxie,” explained Bailey. “She’s competed at the Topsham Fair before and has even won a couple times.”

According to the sisters’ mother, Faber and her grandmother got into baking just recently. Now the activity — and competing in cooking competitions — has become one of their favorite ways to spend quality time together.

While Faber’s dessert appealed to those with a sweet tooth, Iliana Gray’s show-stopping dish was a savory sensation.

It was Moxie bacon-wrapped mushrooms — a bold choice, but one that paid off.

Daelynn Faber, right, of Gardiner reacts Friday after Lisa Ward, left, announced that Faber’s Moxie Brownie Cupcakes won second place in the dessert category of the Moxie Festival Recipe Contest at Lisbon High School. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Gray said she created the unorthodox recipe because “I love bacon and I love mushrooms. So, they were the first (ingredients) that popped into my mind when I thought of things that I could use.”

“I also want to see if others will like it as much as I do,” she added.

Just like her award-winning recipe, Gray took the initiative in joining this year’s recipe contest.

After finding out about the competition, she asked her mother, Jocelyn, if she could participate and was overjoyed when she replied with a resounding “yes.”

Not only was she thrilled to share her culinary invention with the public, she was stoked to be surrounded by fellow Moxie fanatics.

“I love Moxie!” she exclaimed. “But, my whole family hates Moxie — besides my brother.”

In addition to sharing the same passion for Moxie, the Gray siblings were forging a new Moxie-themed family memory together.

Stationed right next to his sister, Gray’s younger brother, Miles, was also competing in the contest. He brought the heat to the Moxie Recipe Contest with his Moxie hot wings. They knocked the judges socks off, securing him a third place win and a spot right next to his older sister on the event’s make-shift “award stage.”

“I really like cooking,” said Miles. “So when I heard about the competition, I thought ‘this sounds fun and that I might as well do it.'”

Miles said that his decision to cook hot wings was a practical one.

“I wanted something that has a sauce so that I could put Moxie in it.”

For Miles, the hot wings recipe came together easily. The longest part of the process, he stressed, was cooking them.

Like his sister, Miles was overflowing with love for the iconic soda.

“I absolutely adore Moxie!” he said with a smile.

The siblings’ mother, Jocelyn, was nearby. She stressed that everything from participating in the contest to cooking up their own recipes was the children’s own idea. Thrilled that the pair was showing off the cooking skills she helped instill in them, she beamed with pride.