Waterfront feast helps keep kids from going hungry
Chefs from 27 restaurants across Maine donate time, food and expertise for the Taste of the Nation event.
By Dennis Hoey dhoey@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
ROCKLAND - Robert Krajewski and Lynette Mosher, chef-owners of the Lily Bistro in Rockland, closed their restaurant on Sunday, drove south to Portland and set up a grill on the city's waterfront.
Erin and Kevin Morneault of Falmouth, right, and Mark Simmons of Concord, N.H., center, watch as chef Andrew Taylor of Hugo’s in Portland serves Gedalis Farm goat taquitos at Taste of the Nation’s Share Our Strength benefit Sunday at the Ocean Gateway Terminal in Portland.
Jill Brady/Staff Photographer
House-made strawberry shortcakes from The Farmer’s Table in Portland.
Jill Brady/Staff Photographer
Krajewski and Mosher served 400 meals consisting of Port Clyde lobster, sweet peas and gnocchi -- all donated at their own expense.
The out-of-pocket cost to the Lily Bistro amounted to $3,000, but for Krajewski and Mosher it was a small price to pay to help fight childhood hunger.
"It's important to us," Krajewski said, his voice shaking with emotion.
The Lily Bistro joined 26 other restaurants from across the state to participate in the fifth annual Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation event.
Nearly all the proceeds raised at the event, which was held under a tent on a deck next to the city's Ocean Gateway terminal, will benefit organizations in Maine that serve children from poverty-stricken families.
Bill Shore, national founder of Share Our Strength, established the organization in 1984 on the belief that in the world's wealthiest nation, no child should go hungry.
Despite the country's wealth, nearly 17 million children in America struggle with hunger -- and about one in four children in Maine, according to Share Our Strength.
Shore, who maintains a summer home in Kennebunk, spoke briefly before the event.
Admission cost $125. Guests sampled food and wine from a diverse mix of restaurants ranging from The Salt Exchange, Back Bay Grill and Buttercup Cupcakes in Portland to El Camino in Brunswick and Primo in Rockland.
Not everyone was serving food, though. Kristen Miale, director of Share Our Strength's Operation Frontline, attended to introduce her program.
Beginning on Tuesday, Operation Frontline will begin teaching a six-week course on how to prepare healthy meals for low-income families. Hannaford is donating all the food, and many of the classes will be taught by professional chefs.
John Woods, who lives in Cape Elizabeth, organized Taste of the Nation.
Woods said his goal is to raise $100,000 -- funds that will directly benefit the Preble Street Teen Center, the Good Shepherd Food Bank, East End Kids Katering and Cultivating Community.
Woods said this year's event featured more chefs and restaurants than before.
Among the chefs who donated their time and food was Sam Hayward, chef-owner of Fore Street in Portland.
Hayward was serving bite-sized samples of summer flounder covered in butter sauce, carrot and garlic scape.
"This is about partnering with the community in a way that will have a positive effect," Hayward said.
Rob Evans, chef-owner of Hugo's and Duckfat in Portland, was asked why he participates.
"Why wouldn't you do it is the bigger question," Evans said. "When it comes to ignoring hungry kids, it would be a sin."
Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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8 COMMENTS
BSmart said...
A nice thing to do surely. I just have one question. Where exactly in this country are ANY kids "going hungry" ??? Food stamps, SSI, free school lunches, school breakfast programs, after school programs, church programs, food pantries, soup kitchens. On one hand we're constantly told childhood obesity is an epidemic and in the next breath children are "going hungry". This ain't Ethiopia folks. Nobody's going hungry.
June 28, 2010 at 9:04 AM Report abuse
dHJpczE%3D said...
Do you people ever LOOK at the kids nowadays? THEY ARE FAT LITTLE PIGS, almost every one of them. I'm sick of the kids going to be hungry lie. It's a lie, and a bald faced one at that.
June 28, 2010 at 9:26 AM Report abuse
smarty said...
Nasty comments.
June 28, 2010 at 10:13 AM Report abuse
P.E.Ester said...
These are ignorant comments. The reason why there is a childhood obesity problem in many low-income areas is that there no stores that offer fresh foods. You take your local Hannaford's and Shaws for granted, but in many parts of this country, people are reduced to buying junk from corner stores, which is all high in fat, sugar, salt, preservatives, etc.. It's also all *cheap* junk, thanks to government subsidies on many of the underlying industries (e.g., corn). Turn off your reality TV shows for a moment and watch a movie called "Food, Inc." Why is it cheaper for a family of four to eat at McDonalds than to make a vegetable stirfry at home? Instead of whining, why don't you thank your lucky stars that you go to bed with a full stomach every night. You might also want to poke around here - http://bit.ly/bxPimH - if you're capable of processing anything more than soundbites.
June 28, 2010 at 11:24 AM Report abuse
UG9ydGxhbmRSZXM%3D said...
There are plenty of kids going hungry in this state/country – do you think fast food, Kraft mac and cheese and Swanson’s TV dinners “stick to your ribs” – no. They in high in fat, sugar, sodium and cholesterol – and leave you hungry an hour later because they aren’t real food. So yes, you get childhood obesity (and diabetes rates through the roof), and hunger, all at the same time. If the food stamp program was as restrictive as the WIC program, and people on food stamps were required to take basic cooking classes, I bet you would see a lot less real hunger, and a lot less childhood obesity real quick.
June 28, 2010 at 11:39 AM Report abuse
irun26 said...
to the two geniuses who stated in their comments that children are not going hungry. I work in North Philadelphia and see children everyday who are going hungry. There was an article this year where they discovered children from a family who were going thru gqarbage cans looking for food. so the two bigoted geniuses who made negative comments about children going hungry open up your eyes.
June 28, 2010 at 1:02 PM Report abuse
heyjoe said...
irun26....I'm hungry.......Anyone happen to notice the expose??? High end folks sipping drinks and eating horsd'oeuvres.... What a pack of phonies.....This is real BULL SHEET!!!
June 28, 2010 at 3:33 PM Report abuse
notspot said...
It's sad that BSmart ain't.
June 28, 2010 at 4:19 PM Report abuse