Third Time a Charm for Chicago Chefs Cook
Wednesday's fundraiser for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico was another big success
Big Funds, Big Hearts
The Chicago Chefs Cook for Ukraine fundraiser for humanitarian relief on March 16 was one of the city’s great chef-driven charitable pop-ups. When the same organizer team returned on September 21 for another successful fundraiser-food tasting to raise money to support critical health care for those displaced by war in the Ethiopian province of Tigray, it became clear that the concept could be enduring.
And when they turned on a dime exactly one week later with Chicago Chefs Cook for Puerto Rico — raising money for Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen to feed victims of a devastating hurricane that struck the island — it certainly looked like an idea that might be here to stay.
All three events so far this year were anchored by a core team of two renowned chefs (in the photo above), Sarah Stegner of Northbrook’s Prairie Grass Cafe and Tony Priolo of Chicago’s Piccolo Sogno, and two Good Food advocates: Darren Gest, a current member of Green City Market’s Board of Directors, and Eda Davidman, a former Green City Board member. Chef Tigist Reda of Chicago’s Demera Ethiopian Restaurant, played a key role in the fundraiser for Tigray, her native province.
Like the Tigray event, Wednesday’s Chicago Chefs Cook event was held at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture, located in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, the longtime hub for the roughly 100,000 Puerto Ricans residing in Chicago.
Billy Ocasio, the museum’s president and CEO, gave welcoming remarks before a bank of local television cameras, underscoring the rising media attention that the Chicago Chefs Cook events are drawing.
Ana Belaval (center), featured in the popular “Around Town” segment on WGN-TV’s Morning News, was born and raised in Puerto Rico.
The organizers staged a live auction Wednesday after raising more than $20,000 from an impromptu live auction at last week’s Tigray fundraiser. Chef Art Smith — whose newest restaurant, Reunion on Navy Pier, opened recently — offered the biggest prize, a tour of culinary and wine landmarks in Portugal for six people (airfare not included), which drew a winning bid of $7,000.
Smith is seen in the above photo with event organizer Eda Davidman (left) and his co-host of the event, Fox 32 news anchor Sylvia Perez, who is Puerto Rican.
Bill Kim of urbanbelly was one of four chefs who put up a private dinner for auction. Kim’s wife is Puerto Rican.
Pat Quinn (right), a former governor of Illinois, attended the Chicago Chefs Cook for Puerto Rico event. Quinn is testing the waters for a campaign for mayor of Chicago next year. He also is father-in-law to Alexandra DeSorbo-Quinn, a friend of Local Food Forum who is executive director of the chef-driven Pilot Light food education program.
To wrap up, one of the nice things about writing your own newsletter is that there is no obligation to be totally objective. So I can say I have huge admiration for the Chicago Chefs Cook team and the feats they have accomplished, and I feel privileged, as the publisher of this little startup, to have been invited to cover all three of their events.
So far…
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