Top chefs give back during the pandemic.
During the pandemic, restaurants were hit hard. But despite their own challenges, chefs far and wide are doing their part to feed people on the frontlines and those struggling to put food on the table. They deserve a tip of the toque.
When New York City went into lockdown during the height of the pandemic in 2020, Chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan teamed up with Rethink Food NYC to reclaim restaurant kitchens that were forced to close. Working together, they cooked 10,000s of meals for hospital employees, healthcare workers, and New Yorkers in need. Building on this success, in April of this year, Humm and Rethink Food NYC launched a new food truck, branded the “Eleven Madison Truck”, to serve 2,000 meals a week in the Bronx and Brooklyn to those in need.
The US nonprofit GENYOUth teamed up earlier this year with American celebrity chefs Carla Hall, Andrew Zimmern, and Tim Love to combat childhood hunger. By creating and seeking tickets online to a culinary experience based around the Super Bowl, the branded Taste of the NFL @Home offered an interactive format filled with cooking and recipes to help feed needy children during the ongoing global pandemic. A regular proponent of charitable culinary activity, Chef Hall previously partnered with Chase and United Airlines late last year in launching their “Gateway to Giving” campaign. The campaign resulted in a $700,000 donation to Feeding America®, which is dedicated to fighting domestic hunger through its food bank network.
Marcus Samuelsson may be among the first leading chefs to blend culinary skills with the latest trend in non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but he likely will not be the last. Working with Stella Artois and the James Beard Foundation (co-creators of the “Chef’s Special NFT Collection”), chef Samuelsson recently sold an NFT of the recipe for his prized fried yardbird dish, a customer favorite at his popular Red Rooster restaurant in New York City. With the support of Christie’s auction house, the NFT auctions benefit the James Beard Foundation’s Food and Beverage Investment Fund for Black and Indigenous Americans, which provides needed assistance to restaurant employees within these marginalized US communities.
After last summer’s port explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, leading cafes and restaurants, such as Zuma, Roka, and Cipriani, joined forces with hospitality providers, delivery platforms, and fast-food outlets across the UAE to support the victims of this tragedy. Branded “Save Beirut”, the joint initiative raised funds by giving a percentage of their sales, anywhere from 30% to 100%, to several Beirut-based charities, as coordinated by Emirates Red Crescent. Reported to be “one of the biggest and most effective charitable campaigns the region has ever seen,” the Dubai-based initiative succeeded in raising over $300,000 in financial assistance to those impacted by the explosion.
And no list of top global chefs and restauranteurs launching charitable initiatives could be complete without recognizing the work of chef José Andrés. In addition to owning and operating roughly 30 leading restaurants around the world as part of his ThinkFoodGroup, Andrés runs the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, which combats food insecurity during the pandemic and provides food relief in the aftermath of global natural and humanitarian disasters. For his efforts, Andrés received a $100 million award last month from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to support and advance the services provided by World Central Kitchen.
Regrettably the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns and restrictions only exacerbated already existing problems and challenges in various communities around the world. Anyone who has ever worked or invested in the hospitality industry knows how difficult it is to succeed as a restauranteur. For many restaurants, the difficult became impossible over the last 18 months. But still chefs rolled up their sleeves and turned on their stoves to feed those in need.
As noted by Andrés, “Our mission is to ‘change the world through the power of food.’” Fortunately for all of us, there are many leading global chefs who agree.
Danilo Diazgranados is an investor, collector, and lover of fine wines and a member of the prestigious Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, a fraternity of Burgundy wine enthusiasts.
