Kettle Cuisine donates hot meals to Greater Boston
Food Bank

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As part of Kettle Cuisine's latest hunger relief efforts with the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), the artisan soup maker is donating 12 gallons of kid-friendly soup each week to the GBFB's Kids Café program. Kettle Cuisine also plans to coordinate volunteer groups each month to help serve meals.

The Kids Café program partners with eight area Boys & Girls Clubs throughout eastern Massachusetts to provide a safe environment and healthful meals for at-risk children. The program also aims to teach children about the connection between healthy foods and healthy minds and bodies. Kettle Cuisine has been working with the GBFB for more than five years and has donated more than 14,000 gallons of soup in the past four years.
Kettle Cuisine employees, led by executive chef Volker Frick (center), serve soup at The GBFB's Kids Café program

"The Greater Boston Food Bank and the Kids Café program share our dedication to providing nutritional meal options to the people who need it most," said Jerry Shafir, founder and CEO of Kettle Cuisine, in a statement.

For more information, visit www.gbfb.org/programs/KidsCafe.cfm.
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NRA responds to federal budget plans

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In response to the federal budget plans submitted to the U.S. Congress by President Obama, Dawn Sweeney, the president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association (NRA), issued the following statement:
"The National Restaurant Association, representing the nation's second-largest private sector employer, welcomes initiatives in the federal budget to support small business, job creation and our nation's economic recovery. We support President Obama's call for tax incentives to help spur the economy and generate additional jobs.

"We encourage the extension of expired tax provisions that allow businesses an enhanced deduction for expensing and 'bonus' depreciation for capital expenditures. These measures will encourage restaurants to invest and grow. A tax credit for new hires will further encourage restaurateurs to create jobs.

"While our industry expects to reverse a short-term contraction and add jobs in 2010, the scale of the industry's upturn depends largely on consumer confidence. Until personal disposable income increases and general unemployment levels fall, economic recovery will be pro­longed. Consequently, we strongly support efforts that lead to measurable, overall results, while reducing deficits in the long term."
For more information, visit www.restaurant.org.
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February 2010 Chef digital edition now available

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The digital edition of the February 2010 issue of Chef Magazine is now online through the Chef Web site. This digital edition features all the same great content as the print edition, plus an online exclusive on seafood recipes. To access the issue, click the icon below. You can also register on the Chef Web site to receive e-mail notification when each new digital magazine is available for viewing.
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Industry Voices

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"I believe passionately that we, as chefs, have to use our unique position to educate people about the importance of food and good nutrition, the scarcity of food for some families, and the importance of local and sustainable approaches. I also think that we have to evolve to keep our work relevant. I know I only serve a portion of the community through my restaurant, HotChocolate in Chicago, and that I don't need to go more than a couple streets from here to witness real need. We all need to bear witness to that--an to respond."
--Mindy Segal, pastry chef/owner, HotChocolate, Chicago
"Industry Voices," February 2010, Chef Magazine

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The Last Word

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"A.A. Milne, the beloved author of Winnie the Pooh, once said, 'In the quiet hours when we are alone and there is nobody to tell us what fine fellows we are, we come sometimes upon a moment in which we wonder not how much money we are earning, nor how famous we have become, but what good we are doing.' Many chefs are fine fellows: They do good by being good neighbors. They volunteer at local food banks."
--Irena Chalmers, "Giving a hand,"
"The Last Word," February 2010, Chef Magazine

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UNICEF Tap Project 2010 calls on all restaurants

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The UNICEF Tap Project, a grassroots initiative to provide clean water to children around the world, is seeking restaurants nationwide to participate in its fourth annual UNICEF Tap Project March 21 to 27, 2010, during World Water Week to raise funds for distributing clean water to countries in need.

Participating restaurants will ask their patrons to donate $1 or more for the tap water they typically drink for free. All money raised will be allocated to bringing clean and accessible water to the countries and areas identified as among the most in need--among them are Haiti, Central African Republic, Togo, Guatemala and Vietnam. Restaurants interested in taking part in this year’s Tap Project can register online here.

Since its inception in 2007 in New York City, the UNICEF Tap Project has raised $1.5 million and grown into a nationwide effort. For more information, visit www.tapproject.org
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United Fresh seeking applicants for produce leadership program

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The United Fresh Research & Education Foundation has opened the application period for the 16th annual Produce Industry Leadership Program. United Fresh will select 12 individuals to participate.

During the yearlong program, participants will take part in a series of customized trips including meetings with leading industry players, hands-on training with industry experts and educators and interactive experiences with leaders in Washington, D.C. This year's schedule will feature trips to Washington and Oregon, Washington, D.C., Wilmington, Del., and Southern California. The class will graduate at United Fresh 2011 in Las Vegas.

Candidates interested in applying for the program can download information and an application here. The deadline for applications is March 5. Only members of United Fresh may apply. The Produce Industry Leadership Program was created in 1995 through a grant from DuPont Crop Protection.
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NRA joins Share our Strength to bring Haiti relief

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The National Restaurant Association (NRA) and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) have partnered with Share Our Strength to organize Restaurants for Relief-Haiti, a program to raise money from the nation's restaurants to aid recovery efforts in Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake. The program is an extension of Restaurants for Relief in 2005, which raised nearly $1 million to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Share Our Strength will grant 100 percent of funds raised through Restaurants for Relief-Haiti to organizations with proven capacity and expertise to respond to such a crisis. Restaurants can participate by: donating a portion of sales from a week, a day or a specific menu item; collecting donations from patrons or directing them to make online donations at www.strength.org/haiti; or encouraging employees to make individual donations and match them. For more suggestions on how to get involved, visit the Restaurants for Relief-Haiti Web site.

Restaurants that wish to help should send the restaurant name, city and state to RFR@strength.org to be added to the list of participants. Program donations can be made online through Share Our Strength any time before Feb. 12.
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