“Are you a CEO?” a man asks me.
“Well errrm no, not exactly, no I’m not at all really. I’m just cooking with them tonight,” I explain as I register for my spot at this year’s OzHarvest CEO Cook Off. I walk through the entrance of the Oz Harvest CEO Cook Off. In its second year, it aims to raise a million dollars for the food waste charity that focuses on food security, homelessness and youth. Those unfamiliar with the not for profit charity Oz Harvest may have seen their distinctive yellow vans picking up food that would have otherwise been thrown out from manufacturers and retailers and redistributing it to charities in need. I spent an eye opening morning with them seeing how they work and it was fascinating stuff-and alarming to think that before them, all of the food that we carried in the van would have been thrown out.
OzHarvest Stats:
Approx 5,000 tonnes has been saved from going to landfill and 15,289,221 meals rescued by OzHarvest to date.
Every week OzHarvest collects over 35 tonnes of excess food and delivers it to over 380 charities.
Since 2004 they have delivered over 15 million meals to those in need
From left to right: Alan Joyce (Qantas), Ronni Kahn (OzHarvest) and Neil Perry (Rockpool)
For the CEO Cook Off, OzHarvest’s main sponsor partner is Qantas who paid for the marquee, stage hire, non donated food and entertainment. This ensures that every cent goes to OzHarvest, The Big Issue and ONE80TC. Other businesses that donated goods or services include Vic’s Meat, Brasserie Bread, Pepe Saya butter, Maggie Beer, Murray Valley Pork, Grand Cucina, Vittoria as well as other food and beverage and audio equipment and services. Each of the thirty chefs and their teams donated their time. As if to announce their presence, the Qantas Choir starts up in their heart rousing version of ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ as the leaderboard tally announces that they’ve raised $1,000,000.
Qantas Choir
CEOs and chefs have been asked to raise money with some raising over $80,000 by themselves and their feedback after last year’s event was that they wanted to do more work in the tents. We are at Cathedral Square and two rows of tents have been set up either side of the table section. Each tent has a chef and their team including the CEOs. The chefs were invited to participate by Rockpool’s Neil Perry who also managed the chefs and their menus. He has been a long term supporter of OzHarvest and recalls a conversation in 2003 when Ronni Kahn asked for his opinion about whether the concept would work. “About ten years later, they have seventeen trucks and have given out millions of meals” he says.
Clockwise from top: James Viles from Biota Dining, Three Blue Ducks and CEO volunteers. All images taken on a Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC OS lens.
The brief to the chefs was to make simple, accessible meals as the patrons wouldn’t necessarily want high end ones. As many of the guests were long term homeless, the dishes couldn’t be overly spicy or sophisticated. “Food that was simple but delicious food” was the brief according to Neil. In the spirit of sustainability, they used secondary cuts such as lamb shoulder, pork neck and chicken thigh and chefs devised mains according to the protein that they were assigned.
For ex Masterchef Alumni Justine Schofield, “It was an absolute honour to be invited a second time round to the Oz Harvest and Qantas CEO cook-off. So much money was raised for this great cause and to be able to cook a feast for many homeless Sydney folk, well it meant a great deal to me. At the 2012 Oz Harvest Cook-Off I cooked chilli cheese steak sandwiches. They were a massive hit so I wanted to keep it very simple again this year but of course providing heaps of flavour. I did pulled lamb burritos with tomato and turmeric rice. Our table were ecstatic so it was a success all round.”
Clockwise from top: Justine Schofield from Everyday Gourmet, Attila Yilmaz from Al Carbon Tacos and Gregory Llewellyn from Hartsyard
Each group make a three course meal consisting of entree, main and dessert in their own style and serve it to a table that they are assigned. They make thirty portions of each. Each course is brought out and served by the CEOs. The tart for the entree was from Simmone Logue and the dessert tart from Brasserie Bread while mains were the chef’s own choice.
Clockwise from top left: CEO volunteers and chefs, one of the main dishes, Peter Gilmore from Quay and Dominique Rizzo from Pure Food Cooking
I’m with one of my favourite restaurants Hartsyard and husband and wife team Naomi Hart and Gregory Llewellyn are busy at work. Involved are some of Sydney’s most notable restaurants with their respective chefs toiling away in the tents. It’s good weather, a light sprinkle but that doesn’t bother anyone and the mood is upbeat and jovial.
Between courses, chefs mingle. Clockwise from top left: Matt Moran & Neil Perry, Guillaume Brahimi & Justin Hemmes, Justin North, Peter Gilmore & Adrian Richardson
In our tent is Lynn from Ernst and Young, Vittoria from BankWest and Michael from Mindsense. They’ve all got their heads down and are busy chopping herbs while a pot of potatoes boil. I don an apron and cap and get to halving the potatoes and frying them until golden. I wondered what CEOs would be like outside of their usual environment-would they get to work or would they try and delegate? Interestingly, both Lynn and Vittoria don’t cook much at home and leave it to their husbands to cook. Nevertheless, they all work hard and keep focused on the task at hand and aren’t distracted by the crowds or entertainment. In fact the only suggestion from the CEOs at last year’s event was that they have more tasks to do as they wanted to really get involved.
Ronni Kahn, founder of OzHarvest
Charities in Sydney were given tokens to hand out to their patrons. Around 7:30pm the guests arrive and everyone settles into the long banquet tables. The belle of the ball is Ronni Kahn the founder of OzHarvest whose charity now helps people in Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide and Brisbane. Ronni herself has helped to change legislation around Australia so that charities that donate food to others are protected from liability.
The entrees are plated up and go out to the diners and then there is a break with speeches after which mains are served. The CEOs emerge from the tents with trays of food and hand out the plates to all of the diners. They also collect plates from diners once they are finished and dispose of them.
And to give you an idea of what was served up the menu at Hartsyard was hot smoked lamb shoulder for main with golden potatoes salad and freshly shucked corn. Rockpool’s offering was a hamburger and Quay’s was Moroccan style chicken with cous cous. Some chefs had similar meals to what is on offer at their restaurants with Aria serving up the Moran Family lamb with hummus, mint salsa and chickpeas and Miguel Maestre serving up his signature paella in a chicken and chorizo version.
CEOs serving up food
Deb Spoons
Entertainment is provided by Deb Spoons, The Spoon Lady who warms up the crowd with her quirky routine playing metal spoons and they get into the spirit by using their plastic spoons to echo back a spoon patter. Deb was on Australia’s Got Talent and her routine consists of crowd pleasers and her finale segues from Chopsticks to a rousing, spoon thwacking version of Black Betty.
Apricot and frangipane tart
Icehouse
Dessert is served and then there’s a short pause before Australian band Icehouse plays a set list of their hits from the past few decades. Even though the rain is slightly heavier, it’s hard to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd. Some dance up the front while others sit at their table enjoying the music. A gentleman combs his beard and comes up to congratulate a chef on the meal and asks him about cooking tips. As guests leave, they’re given goodie bags containing food and other practical items that they can use.
At the end of the evening, $1,018,069 was raised and using that, they will be able to feed at least one and a half million more meals to those in need.
Inspired? Want to help? See www.ozharvest.com.au
So tell me Dear Reader, do you support a charity and if so, which one? And are you concerned about food waste?
OzHarvest CEO Cook Off
www.ceocookoff.com.au
www.ozharvest.com.au
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40 Comments | Add your own
Oh wow!! so much of food and fun! However, what a beautiful cause!
What a great event and one that deserves a lot of support and publicity. Amazing looking food too. I didn’t know Icehouse was still gigging. xx
Wow what a brilliant idea and how fantastic that they raised so much money. I love the idea of Ozharvest. Such a simple idea that helps so many people
Lorraine, this looks like a truly wonderful event, Ronni is a gem with all the work she has put into OzHarvest.
Both my husband and I support – World Vision, Medicins Sans Frontieres and The Fred Hollows Foundation. We also always buy Big Issue and our final teenie bit is donating blood to help others.
We are a retired couple with just a basic pension, but feel it is the least we can do to help others in repayment for the wonderful life that we have been blessed with here in Australia. We just wish we had endless money to be able to provide even more support to other charities.
My parents always taught us 5 children that it was far better to give than to receive and they were so right.
What a fantastic experience mingling with those inspiring chefs and for such a great cause!
What a fantastic result…
OzHarvest is wonderful and it is fantastic to see so many top chefs and all those CEO’s getting involved…. and you !!!!
Well done all.
What a great post NQN, it bought a tear to my eye, such a lovely thing to do helping those in need and raising more money to keep up the good work!
I was given the new OZHarvest recipe book for Christmas and I must get around to cooking something from it soon.
Cheers
Chloe
Lovely idea and a worthy event.
Just awesome. I love it when a visionary like Ronni Kahn takes something from concept to raging success, especially in the name of charity and sustainability. That lady deserves to be Australian of the Year.
what an awesome event for a great cause!
A great cause, well done to everyone involved, not just on the night but all year round. I enquired into volunteering with OzHarvest a few years but they are not in Melbourne yet.
And aren’t you CEO of your business?
OzHarvest is one of my favourite charities. I am full of admiration for what they do – both for the underprivileged and our environment. And I LOVE their new cookbook!
So happy that you wrote a post about Oz Harvest
I bought the cookbook last year and signed up to be a volunteer as well~
I think it’s amazing the work Ozharvest and I do worry about food waste and to be completely honest, I probably buy more than I can consume sometimes, so I really appreciate the work Ozharvest does to minimise food waste and help those in need
Loved this post!
Celebrities Galore! What a fabulous story seeing CEO’s give something personal back to the community
What a GREAT result, GREAT event, GREAT charity, TRUE!
Food wastage is a BIG, BIG pet peeve for me too!
There are SO many ways people can help, not waste, create!
Looked like all participants had fun and the results were nothing short of GREAT!
We do quite a number of things for charities in our own special way,
There is something for everyone to contribute (financially or their time) every day!
What an amazing inspiring crew! Ronni just looks like a whole lot of heart – and cooking with that makes all the difference
What a fantastic cause, and a great result for OzHarvest.
I work for a not for profit organisation, and do a lot of work out of hours as my volunteer contribution – I recently raised $1000 to do a skydive challenge in March and I volunteer on the weekend at fundraising events, etc.
What a great event for a great cause
Glad the rain held off that night too!
I am concerned about food waste. I am always thinking about new ways to use things I might have disposed of in the past. I am also prepared to change my shopping and other habits to cut down on waste and also to make sure I am eating as fresh as possible.
I volunteer at a community agency on the weekends and they share kitchen facilities with Food Not Bombs on a Friday night. They also redistribute food that might otherwise be disposed of. I have spent hours talking to them while they work and I see how much care they take to make delicious food to then freely hand out to the public. They do suffer from some difficulties in that they are not a charity but there is nothing wrong with their ethics or philosophy.
What a fantastic story! Good one you for being involved in such a wonderful charity and event.
Oh and I loved the look of all the delicious food!
I really enjoyed reading your account of tHe night.The atmosphere was amazing with so many happy people enjoying the evening and with such a wonderful result. It was very rewarding for me to hear 1000 people all having a go with their Qantas spoons. I’m sure that is the first for Australia.It was fun and and I feel privileged to have been invited to be part of it.
What a wonderful long and thorough read of one of the most greatest double causes going on in Australia: reducing food waste whilst half the world goes hungry and helping those of us who have become disadvantaged! What a proud cause!! Didn’t mind seeing fresh photos of so many of my favourite chefs either and so would have loved to have been there
! Personally I do not like the word ‘charity’: it smacks of talking ‘down’ to those needing help! I prefer ‘aid’ or ‘relief’ or ‘help’ or similar. And, yes, whatever my pocketbook, I have always tried to help!! Medecins sans Frontieres, The Plan, UNICEF, SEDA and others . . .
You are the CEO of LEGEND.
This is such an inspirational event and brilliant that you documented your involvement on the inside scene. It is wonderful food can be collected to be used for those in need. When I was very young my mother used to comment that it was such a shame food was thrown out at the end of they day instead of being given to those in need. Now it is (and she is 76)! This is motivational, brilliant and a credit to Ronni and the many chefs and people involved who raise so much money and also raise awareness of this invaluable service and this particular occasion. A very worthwhile charity indeed. Thanks to Qantas as well. I support many charities and especially running a business in a (not so small) town, people are always asking for donations and you give where and when you can. A great post and good for you Lorraine!
What fun… a great lineup, a wonderful project. Love that Maggie was there!! One question… do you home deliver the apricot tarts, Lorraine love??? xox
Great Cause..
Delicious Food and loads of fun… And cooking with you for any CEO is an honor in itself
Between I have to say here I saw your Bacon Roses, GAl you totally nailed valentine perfection..
BTW, I’m in LOVE with your bacon roses…this looks like a lot of fun. One day, I too shall partake in a cook off =)
Fantastic event, and good on you for participating. I would have thought that you are the CEO of NQN Inc.
What a terrific event. Those stats are pretty impressive as well.
I work with a non-profit that provides scholarships for girls living in rural areas in Mexico–this has been warming my heart for the last 18 years, and we now have 150 scholarships with 39 in university.
What a great cause and what great fun for all those involved! I know how much can be wasted commercially, and this a much better use for it indeed. I know that at one of my big venues they recieved green points for offsets by having wormfarm bins on site, I wonder if they could get green points by recycling food this way too? It would definitely be a good incentive.
I pick some charities to support each year, I do however, like to know wxactly how my money will be spent and that most of it is actually recieved by those who need it most
What a great charity! Love it
What a good cause… and everyone gets to have a fun enjoyable day too
Great charity Lorraine, what a fantastic effort to raise that much money. Good on you for helping out, it must have been a privilege to do so. We support charities including Red Cross and Salvation Army and if friends partipate in fundrasing events we always donate to them. I think it’s nice to be able to give back and support those less fortunate. I loathe wasting food it’s terrible to be throwing out food when there are people who go hungry. By the way you are the CEO of this blog
Great stuff, congratulations to all!
This is so inspiring. I’m going to send the link to my mom as they feed the needy every day through their charity
A beautiful and inspiring post
Great post Lorraine, very inspiring and thought provoking.
Truly amazing how much we waste as a nation, with so many in need.
Lorraine, I have never heard of this before – what a wonderful event and well done, to you and all your friends there.
Big hug, Carina
Gorgeous post & amazing event – thanks for sharing Lorraine.. You have moved me to tears.
So glad to read that you were involved in the cookoff. I took 17 of my clients and we had an amazing night. They were star struck! Thank you for your support. Without ozharvest the organisation that I work for would not be able to feed our 100 clients every day.
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