Culanthropy

We are pleased to announce a newly created category of sponsorship, Platinum Patrons, in recognition of Zwillling JA Henckels.

This tier of philanthropy was created specifically for Zwilling JA Henckels, and denotes donors who contribute over $5,000 to our efforts. Creating world-class cutlery and kitchen equipment for over 275 years, Henckels also has a profound commitment to community development.

For those of you not familiar with the genesis of CulinaryCorps, Zwilling JA Henckels provided our first opportunity to visit post-Katrina New Orleans via their Cutting Edge Culinary Student Scholarship program. A partnership with Share Our Strength, the 20 scholarship recipients were given an all-expenses paid trip to Share Our Strength’s Conference of Leaders. Zwilling JA Henckels’ generosity allowed us to witness the recovery efforts of New Orleans, interact with local chef luminaries like Leah Chase and Frank Brigtsen, eat our way through the cuisine of a great city and get utterly transformed along the way.

From that one trip, CulinaryCorps was born. And now JA Henckels is once again backing our efforts in a big way. CulinaryCorps has recently received a 1-year development grant http://www.magliettedacalcioit.com that will provide necessary funding to help create and launch trips to a new portfolio of communities around the country.

We are so honored to have Zwilling JA Henckels as our first Platinum Patron. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to a company with a lot of heart.

Allison L. joined us for our March 2007 trip to New Orleans. The youngest of our crew, she was wise well beyond her years and amazingly adept at the pastry arts (she is a recent graduate of the CIA). Her prose, Doing Good With Good Food, is a wonderful encapsulation of the people, the food and the community service Cheap NFL Jerseys that filled the week. We couldn’t have written it better ourselves.

Many thanks to Sarah Copeland, writer for the Food Network’s excellent Behind the Scenes blog for giving CulinaryCorps a nod in her recent post about culanthropic outreach, Good Eats. We hope she can join a trip sometime soon!

From the New York Times Magazine – Food Fights!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Written by Adam Fisher

Culanthropy: Two years ago, the New York City chef Christine Carroll was painting a New Orleans high school with a post-Katrina volunteer group when she realized that she was no painter. But she could cook; so could everyone she knew. And New Orleans needed nourishment. Once home, she started cheap oakley sunglasses organizing CulinaryCorps, a charity that recruits squads of chefs and culinary student for weeklong trips to New Orleans, where they might be asked to cook dinner for a Habitat for Humanity crew one night and the still-stoveless residents of the Lower Ninth Ward the next.
Mornings are spent volunteering: teaching elementary-school kids about growing vegetables or helping to recover flood-damaged cookbooks from venerated restaurants. The focus is not just on feeding the hungry but also on keeping the city’s food traditions alive. “We give them our version of shrimp and grits, and then http://www.oakleyonorder.com/ when they come back for seconds, they share their secret family recipes,” says Carroll.

Of the 75 chefs who have gone through the program, two have moved to New Orleans to make culinary philanthropy — or “culanthropy” – a full-time project. Next year, Carroll says, she hopes to take her Sauciers Sans Frontieres idea to places like Appalachia and Puerto Rico.

As cooks, few things get us more fired-up than an behemoth of a grill. So it was with great pleasure that CulinaryCorps was able to coordinate the donation of this fantastic Viking specimen to our friends at Edible Schoolyard NOLA.

A Real Beauty

This 41″ outdoor gas grill (complete with two side burners and one heck of a sparkle) was generously donated by the folks at Viking for the TASTE 3 conference raffle. Through a dramatic series of events (including a teary-eyed acceptance over a crowded auditorium) the grill landed into the lap of CulinaryCorps.

Finding a home for our fortuitous donation was not the problem; in many ways we wished we split it up into pieces and like the spider plant, grow a grill for ALL of our project partners. However, with onyl one to give, the gift has found a home at Edible Schoolyard’s second site, Charter Middle, who are in the first stages of introducing their magnificent cooking and gardening program to the campus. We cheap oakley sunglasses thought that a bit of fire-power could really help the process along so happy grilling ESYNOLA!

A special thanks to Elisabeth A. from Viking for helping to coordinate the donation and the shipping.

Good food, a good cause and a beautiful space…what more could one desire in a dining experience? Join our friends at the new Astor Center education space to enjoy a farm-driven meal created by restaurant luminary Michael Anthony (Gramercy Tavern) and cookbook maven, Peter Kaminsky. The menu reads like a locavore’s lullaby…

– Sheldon Farms Potato Chips
– Witenagemot Farm Butternut Squash Samosas with Cardamom Yogurt
– Open Faced Mini Manx Station Beef Burgers, House Made Buns and Roasted Organic Tomato Relish
– Witenagemot Farm Blue Corn Crackers and cheap oakley sunglasses Nettle Meadow Goat Cheese Canapé
– Sheldon Farms Potato Pancakes with Saratoga Apple-Onion Rose Compote
– Celery and smoked Mountain View Farms Bacon custard with crispy Adirondack Red Potatoes and toasted almonds
– Mosaic of Mountain View Farms Chicken and Turnips with housed cured pancetta and Austrian Crescent potato salad
– Mountain View Farms Cotechino with pistachio, onion marmalade and shingled Eva potatoes
– Braised Manx Station Beef with roasted La Ratte potatoes, “black dirt” carrots and leeks
– Consider Bardwell Farmstead Cheese Selection
– Maple Syrup glazed Mountain View Farms Ham, French Toast and Apples

For tickets, click here.

Thanks to our friends at the Southern Foodways Alliance, we found out about this upcoming event at Lincoln Center, Rebuilding New Orleans in New York City.

With the city’s struggle for stability still an everyday reality, what better way to put that holiday bonus to good use. Enjoy the sounds and tastes of New Orleans while supporting the http://www.raybani.com/ media leaders committed to covering the post-Katrina successes and failures.

“Preservation is a cornerstone of building and nurturing a sustainable community. The work of the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans is a model for the country and, in the wake of the Ray Ban outlet devastation of Hurricane Katrina, it is among the most compelling examples of sound stewardship of resources.”

–Al Gore

Congratulations to Viviana Acosta-Padial, CulinaryCorps alum and trip co-leader, for being the WOSO VIP of the Day.  Her culinary-focused interview was played by the Puerto Rican radio station throughout the day, reaching thousands of island listeners.  A wonderful way to recognize an amazing volunteer and chef!

It has been amazing to watch CulinaryCorps alumni continue to make strides long-after they have returned home from their trip.

March participants and long-time Manhattan residents, Angela S. and April N., have recently moved to New Orleans after falling hard for the magical city during their CulinaryCorps tenure. April recently nabbed a position working with NOLA Edible Schoolyard while Angela will be reporting each day to Emeril’s Homebase as the newest edition to their test kitchen team. By weaving themselves into the fabric of the community, they hope to become an integral part of the city’s rebirth. We wish them luck and look forward to catching up over Sazeracs in September.

Another March participant, Amy T., has proved that good will can be executed from afar as her recent fundraising effort in Coshocton, Ohio raised $475 for Emergency Communities. She successfully converted the bake sale donations into gift certificates to The Cresecent City Farmers Market, allowing EC to fill their larder with farm fresh foods as well as support an important aspect of their local economy. Special thanks to Auer Ace Hardware, The Coshocton Brown’s Backers and all the generous bakers who donated their time and goods.

It has been said that ideas are many but http://www.oakleyonorder.com/ execution is precious. These three amazing cooks have proven that when your heart backs your actions, good things will follow. Thanks to Angela, April and Amy for their commitment to CulinaryCorps, and more importantly, their tremendous dedication to New Orleans.

Food From New York: Creating a tasty local economy.

The Geoffrey Roberts Award:   Supporting individuals with culinary vision.  (CulinaryCorps was honored to be one of this year’s “small grant” recipients.)

Small Axe Farms: “Deepening grass roots in New Orleans.”