On Monday, March 20, the top chefs in Chicago gathered once again for a delicious fundraising event, this time to help send aid to victims of the February 6 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria.
The group, Chicago Chefs Cook, gathered one year ago to raise funds for the victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They raised over $600,000 for the Ukrainian victims. This year, they seek to provide aid and relief to families who are still recovering from the catastrophic earthquake that struck near the southern border of Turkey.
Exquisite Eats and Essential Aid
A total of 45 chefs and their restaurants provided stations at this year’s fundraiser, held at Avli on the Park. Participating chefs included Soo Ahn from Adalina, Devon Quinn from Eden, Joe Rizza from LYRA, Tony Priolo from Piccolo Sogno, Sarah Stegner from Prairie Grass Cafe, Art Smith from Reunion, Joe Flamm from Rose Mary, and Panos Chalikiopoulos and Nikolaos Kapernaros from Avli, in addition to some others.
“When seeing the latest global devastation on the news, I knew I wanted to step up to rally together the Chicagoland chef community for a way to give back,” Chef Kapernaros told Chicago Food Magazine.
The only out-of-town chef included in the event was Sanaa Abourezk from Sanaa’s Gourmet Mediterranean in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Abourezk was born in Damascus, and still has close family members that live in Syria.
The Relief Efforts of World Central Kitchen
All of the proceeds from Monday’s event are going to World Central Kitchen. WCK is a non-profit organization that is among the first to respond to humanitarian, climate, and community crises by serving fresh and nourishing meals to the affected communities. In addition to the food, they also provide a source of income or temporary employment for local farmers and chefs.
In just the first week following the devastating earthquake, WCK delivered over 1 million meals to victims in Turkey. Since then, they have partnered with local organizations and restaurants and are serving over 200,000 meals a day across Turkey and Syria, according to an update on WCK’s website.
Here in Chicago, the fundraising will continue on March 28, with a one-night pop-up event with chefs Don Young from Duck Sel and Zubair Mohjair from Wazwan. The two will be presenting an eight-course tasting menu at the Coach House by Wazwan. One-hundred dollars of the proceeds from each ticket will be given to WCK’s Turkey and Syrian relief efforts.
A Cause to Unite Behind
The earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria has decimated villages, towns and cities alike, with an estimated death toll that surpasses 50,000. Many of the towns in Syria impacted by the quake were already reeling from more than a decade of death and destruction created by the Syrian Civil War.
Food won’t solve many of the problems that these people are facing. However, Chicago Chefs Cook believe that food is an essential human right, and something that people around the world can unite around.
Manish Mallick, owner of Bar Goa, told CBS Chicago:
“Food, as we all know, is a great nourisher, healer, and in my opinion one of the biggest global uniters. An analogy I like to use is languages. Across the world, you’ve got hundreds of languages, thousands of dialects as we travel across different geographies; and food basically is something that everyone has to cook every day to stay nourished, heal themselves. Fascinatingly and fortunately, cooks all around the world are able to use a similar set of ingredients, but with their cultural heritage and passion, cook up some amazing, delicious, different kind of meals. So food of course is the biggest uniter.”
Written by Seth Herlinger
Sources:
Axios Chicago: Chicago chefs cook for Syria-Turkey earthquake relief
CBS Chicago: Chicago Chefs Cook holds event benefiting Turkey, Syria earthquake victims
Chicago Eater: Chicago Chefs Will Raise Money For Syrian and Turkish Earthquake Relief
Chicago Food Magazine: Chicago Chefs Cook for Earthquake Relief Hosted at Avli on the Park, March 20th
World Central Kitchen: Over one million meals served one week after deadly Türkiye-Syria earthquakes
Top and featured image courtesy of Jesson Mata‘s Unsplash page – Creative Commons License
Inset image courtesy of Çağlar Oskay‘s Unsplash page – Creative Commons License
