Showcasing the culinary delights of 35 of Central Florida’s leading chefs and restaurants, this year’s Taste of the Nation Orlando will feature three James Beard Foundation Award semi-finalists – Hari Pulapaka of Cress Restaurant, Kevin Fonzo of K Restaurant and Wine Bar, and Henry Salgado of Txokos Basque Kitchen.
Along with appetizers, entrees and desserts from the area’s finest chefs and restaurants, guests can sample wines, beers and spirits while enjoying the silent auction, exciting raffle prizes, and entertainment by the Mud Rooster Band at this premier culinary fundraising event. This year’s event will also be home to a European-style bier garden sponsored by World of Beer.
Food Network celebrity chef, mom of four and Share Our Strength supporter Melissa d’Arabian, well-known for her TV series and New York Times best-selling cookbook Ten Dollar Dinners, is cooking up her support for this year’s milestone event as a featured guest. D’Arabian, along with Orlando Sentinel food writer Heather McPherson and Scott Joseph from Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide, will serve as celebrity judges for the annual Chef Throwdown, where two chefs go head to head in a cooking challenge to determine whose culinary creation reigns supreme. Natural and organic foods supermarket chain Whole Foods is providing the pantry staples for the culinary cook-off, and leading premium beef producer Creekstone Farms will award a generous check to the winner of the chef throwdown title to present to Taste of the Nation Orlando.
This year’s silent auction invites guests to bid on luxury apparel and accessories, stays at upscale hotels, gift cards to the area’s top restaurants, rounds of golf on area courses, and tickets to coveted sporting events. Guests can also enter a grand prize drawing for an all-expense paid trip for two to Oktoberfest in Munich.
Tickets to the event are $150 per person, and all proceeds benefit Share Our Strength's efforts to eradicate childhood hunger. Local beneficiaries include Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida and Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
“The longstanding support of Taste of the Nation has been phenomenal,” said Brent A. Trotter, president and CEO of Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida. “The funds raised help us provide food, shelter and services to more than 150 children and their families each night and serve more than 300,000 nutritious meals every year. Just $50 provides a week of nutritious meals to 34 homeless children, so each ticket purchased makes a significant impact.”
Benefits Connection is one of the primary feeding programs Taste of the Nation Orlando’s proceeds will help fund. Since 2008, Benefits Connection has secured more than $80 million in unused SNAP benefits for thousands of Central Florida families in need.
Second Harvest Food Bank’s Benefits Connection specialists help qualified candidates overcome the challenges associated with accessing these benefits, such as lack of access to a computer, skills to navigate an online application, lack of awareness, misinformation on eligibility factors, and language and literacy barriers by providing one-on-one assistance with applications, support documentation and interviews, education, information and referrals to a network of agencies.
“For 25 years, Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation Orlando has provided a meaningful outreach for hungry kids and families across Central Florida,” said Dave Krepcho, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. “This support has literally put millions of additional meals on the table for our most vulnerable neighbors, and we’re so grateful for that.”
TASTE OF THE NATION ORLANDO
- WHEN: Saturday, August 9, 2014 6:45 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
- WHERE: Orlando World Center Marriott 8701 World Center Dr., Orlando
- TICKETS: $150 each
- ATTIRE: Cocktail / Semi-Formal
PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS
- Bahama Breeze
- BB Kings Blues Club
- Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine
- Cafe Tu Tu Tango
- Capa at Four Seasons Resort Orlando
- The Capital Grille
- Captain's Grille @ Disney's Yacht Club Resort
- Christner’s Prime Steak & Lobster
- Cress Restaurant
- Crimson Tavern at Orlando Airport Marriott
- Cuisiniers Catering
- Eddie V's Prime Seafood
- Emeril's Orlando
- Emeril's Tchoup Chop
- Empress Sissi Cake & Pastry Specialties
- Journeys Catering
- JW Marriott Orlando - Grande Lakes
- K Restaurant and Wine Bar
- Kobe Japanese Steakhouse
- LongHorn Steakhouse
- Marlow's Tavern
- Pirate Chefs of Central Florida sponsored by Nestlé Professional Orlando World Center Marriott
- RA Sushi
- Red Wing Restaurant
- Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
- SeaWorld Orlando
- Second Harvest Food Bank Culinary Training Program
- Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, A Land Remembered Restaurant Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Cala Bella Restaurant
- Sushi Pop Restaurant
- Taverna Opa
- Thornton Park Restaurant Group
- T-Rex Orlando at Downtown Disney
- Txokos Basque Kitchen