SEATTLE — A number of celebrity chefs are concerned with more than feeding the wealthy clientele that their highbrow restaurants attract; they’re using their talents to alleviate starvation and malnutrition around the world. Cat Cora, José Andrés and Giada de Laurentiis are three world-renowned celebrity chefs who deserve praise for their use of fame as a tool to direct attention to global poverty.
Cat Cora was the first female victor of the U.S. version of Iron Chef, but she didn’t stop there. Since her trailblazing win in 2005, she’s gone on to open several restaurants and cafes around the globe. All the while, she has been nurturing her organization, Chefs for Humanity, which she founded in 2004.
Doctors Without Borders inspired Cora to create a similar “chefs without borders” organization. Chefs for Humanity has grown and evolved over time due to a myriad of experiences, including Hurricane Katrina, Cora’s trips to Nicaragua and Honduras and the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Chefs for Humanity is constantly expanding, but it stays true to its mission to promote “nutrition education, hunger relief and emergency and humanitarian aid to reduce hunger worldwide.”
Haiti also attracted the attention of Spanish-American chef José Andrés. Andrés is a James Beard Award-winning chef. He’s even hosted several PBS television shows and appeared on NBC’s “Today Show,” “The Martha Stewart Show” and other popular U.S. programs.
Andrés decided to take advantage of his increasing fame to direct public attention to an issue close to his heart: the food crisis in Haiti. He first visited Haiti after the 2010 earthquake to cook food for people in need and fell in love. Andrés filmed a PBS documentary highlighting the many positive aspects of Haiti to encourage people to visit this unique and troubled nation.
While Andrés adores Haiti, he also recognizes its many problems, primarily in lack of sustainable cooking. Andrés’ organization, World Central Kitchen, aims to make food “accessible to everyone” through replacing traditional tools with innovative technology, for example clean ovens instead of wood burning stoves. Overall, WCK provides Haitian people with healthier cooking, school kitchens to promote education, and culinary training to create jobs and boost Haiti’s economy.
Giada de Laurentiis is now a household name, thanks to her regular appearance on NBC’s “Today Show,” De Laurentiis has also penned several cookbooks and hosted “Everyday Italian,” an Emmy Award-winning daytime cooking show. While working on “Giada at Home” another Food Network program that debuted in 2008, de Laurentiis raised awareness about Oxfam, an international charity devoted to relieving starvation. In 2009, after visiting Oxfam programs in Peru, De Laurentiis reported on the challenges small farmers faced and advocated for more sustainable farming among rural populations.
According to Oxfam, “although there is enough food grown in the world for everyone, one billion people around the world—one in every six—go hungry every day.” Fortunately, celebrity chefs who have dedicated their lives to food refuse to tolerate those statistics, so they are cooking up new solutions every day. These chefs exemplify those who can use their everyday talents to combat global problems.
– Sabrina Yates
Photo: Flickr