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Taste of the Nation to Fight Hunger |
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 Taste of the Nation
May 23, 7:30 pm-10:30 pm
Cost: $375 for VIP, $275 for general admission
Roseland Ballroom
239 West 52nd street
1-877-26 TASTE (268-2783)
newyorktaste.org
strength.org
 Michael Lomonaco's new restaurant Porter House is a premiere New York steakhouse located in the prestigious Restaurant Collection at Time Warner Center. Porter House brings his fresh vision and bold flavors to a steakhouse format.  Lomonaco shows kids how to make their own yogurt parfaits with fresh fruit and whole grain cereal.  Twenty 6th graders ask questions on how to prepare quick and easy healthy meals.  A young girl from the Bronx carries a tray of freshly-baked seasoned pita chips.
Though New Yorkers often take an abundance of options in cuisine and dining for granted, few are likely to consider hunger and need as something that exists in the city.
Yet, as Event Chair Ken Goodman explains, "the U.S. Census stats are alarming - of the 1.6 million New Yorkers living in poverty, 350,000 are children."
Goodman adds that "through the generosity of the restaurants who give 100 percent of their time, staff and food, partnered with the contributions from wineries and local and national sponsors, we are able to to use ticket proceeds to support our local beneficiaries" - these including ACCION/NY, City Harvest, Food Bank for New York City, FoodChange, God's Love We Deliver, Just Food, NYC Coalition Against Hunger and Nutrition Consortium of NYS.
More than 50 of New York's finest restaurants will be co-catering the tasting event this year.
The mission of uniting fine dining with improving the dietary options of needy children was demonstrated in a unique pre-event luncheon hosted by star chef Michael Lomonaco at his new Porter House restaurant in the Time Warner Center.
Lomonaco--who worked under other master chefs at famed New York restaurants Le Cirque and Daniel Boulud during the '80s-- taught 20 6th graders from the Bronx how to prepare a "stone soup" meal, using healthier ingredients than they might normally be accustomed to, but at the same time fashioning snacks as fun and tasty as they are nutritious.
Before being served a luncheon of chicken salad with vegetables and greens prepared by the kitchen at Porter House, students prepared their own desserts in advance - yogurt parfaits containing fresh fruit and whole grain cereal - as well as pita chips with a variety of seasonings, which they could then take home with them; they also received gift bags containing t-shirts, seed packets and City Harvest toy trucks.
It's not unlikely that several budding chefs' careers were begun as a result.
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