Chef Lynn Crawford and last year’s Culinary Showdown winners.
Yorkshire Valley Farms is proud to be part of this year’s KitchenAid Cook for the Cure Culinary Showdown event, organized by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. On November 14th, the top fundraisers will gather with their Celebrity Chef Team Leaders to cook up delicious menus for the judges, all to raise funds for important research that is working towards a future without breast cancer. We spoke with the team at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation to learn more about the research they are supporting, to hear some inspiring fundraising stories, and to get a sneak peek as to what’s in store for this year’s event.
Can you give us a quick overview of the Culinary Showdown initiative?
The KitchenAid Cook for the Cure Culinary Showdown is one of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s Signature Events. The event, now its third year is the ultimate foodie experience. It gives fundraisers the opportunity to cook alongside one of five top FoodNetwork Celebrity Chefs in a cooking challenge normally reserved for TV! This year’s chefs include Lynn Crawford, Corbin Tomaszeski and three new additions: Quebec award-winning Celebrity Chef Ricardo, along with one of America’s Top 10 Pastry Chefs, Elizabeth Falkner and owner of New York City’s Red Rooster Harlem restaurant and resident judge on Chopped Chef Marcus Samuelsson. The event will be hosted by Noah Cappe of “Carnival Eats”. We are expecting this year’s extraordinary challenge to be better than ever!
The coveted Culinary Showdown trophy.
How much are you targeting to raise through this year’s Culinary Showdown event?
Over the last two years the event has been a tremendous success and has raised over $1,200,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) with participants from across Canada. This year through our incredible fundraisers, sponsors, and silent and live auction we are hoping to raise $766,000! From fundraising alone our hope is to reach $340,000.
How are funds raised through the Culinary Showdown applied?
Funds raised through Culinary Showdown will help the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation continue to fund high impact work at both the national and regional level which will lead to better detection and treatments, improved quality of life, and lead to significant increases in survival rates for Canadians diagnosed with breast cancer.
Check out these video to learn more about the research that CBCF is doing:
• CBCF-funded researcher Dr. Patrick Gunning speaks at the Culinary Showdown to discusses his research. Watch video
• A member of the Culinary Showdown staff visits Dr. Gunning and get an update on his work. Watch video
Participants take it all in at Chef School.
Are there are any fundraising stories – examples of extraordinary creativity or community support – that really stand out?
Tina Walters is participating in the KitchenAid Cook for the Cure Culinary Showdown for her first time. This year Tina made a cookbook of family recipes to sell when her mother became sick with cancer again, and now sells them in memory of her. With the proceeds from selling over 300 of these, baking lasagna, and collecting donations in her community of Millet, Alberta Tina has maintained the position of top fundraiser since May. Tina came to Toronto earlier this year to attend an event with Chef Corbin and shared her story. It was so compelling that a number of people registered on the spot. Additionally, another fundraiser purchased 50 cookbooks from her that night. Though Tina has been supported by the people in the community, her biggest support has been her husband, who has stood by her tirelessly through everything that she has done, from producing this cookbook, to speaking on local radio. Tina has been and continues to be an inspiration to many.
Why partner with companies like Yorkshire Valley Farms?
Without the support of our amazing sponsors, like Yorkshire Valley Farms, not only could we not put on incredible events like the Culinary Showdown, but we couldn’t afford to fund incredible, ground breaking research like Dr. Gunning’s. It is only through support from sponsors and fundraisers that we will get to our goal of creating a future without breast cancer. It is also important to the Foundation to partner with the right companies. We strive to ensure that anyone that the Foundation partners with shares or values our beliefs. We have a strict guideline for selecting our partners so that our stakeholders can be assured that we are practicing what we preach so to say.
Are there any new elements in store for this year’s event that you can share?
Guests of this year’s Culinary Showdown can look forward to a few new elements to this year’s event. You can look forward to more interaction for our guests in the audience as well as some incredible silent and live auction items. With 3 of the five chefs being new this year, I think you can also look forward to it getting a bit hot in the kitchen!! The competition is going to be fierce!!
To learn more about the event, visit culinaryshowdown.ca
†Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Cook for the Cure and pink ribbon ellipse are trademarks of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. KitchenAid is a trademark of KitchenAid U.S.A., use under license in Canada. All rights reserved.
All photos used with permission of Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
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