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'Too Hot Tamales' & Other Top Chefs at 'Cooking for Solutions 2007'
During two days of public events on May 18-19, 2007, celebrity chefs from three nations - selected and honored by the Monterey Bay Aquarium for their leadership among as advocates for sustainable cuisine - will create gourmet dishes, host food and wine adventures, and present cooking demonstrations that feature sustainable seafood and organic ingredients. Seafood Watch Program All events support the aquarium's Seafood Watch program, which connects individual buying decisions with the health of oceans and the soil. Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, two of America's most beloved and well-known chefs through their restaurants, cookbooks and radio and television programs, will receive the Cooking for Solutions Conservation Leadership Award - Chefs of the Year at the sixth annual celebration. These two committed advocates of sustainable seafood will be joined by actor/writer John Cleese and noted chefs from the United States, Canada and Panama as ambassadors for sustainable dining during a series of Cooking for Solutions events. Seven Other Culinary Greats Seven other culinary greats will be recognized as Celebrity Chef Ambassadors: Charles Phan, of The Slanted Door, San Francisco; Elena Hernandez, of Academia de Artes Culinarias, Panama City, Panama; Michael Cimarusti, of Providence, Los Angeles; Douglas Katz, of Fire, Cleveland, Ohio; Sam Choy, of Sam Choy's Diamond Head Restaurant, Honolulu; Keith Froggett, of Scaramouche, Toronto, Canada; and Chris Douglass, of Icarus Restaurant, Boston. They will be joined by Cooking for Solutions Founding Celebrity Chefs Jim Dodge, of Bon Appétit Management Company, Palo Alto and John Ash, of Fetzer Vineyards, Sonoma County, and by Special Guest Celebrity Chefs Allen Susser, of Chef Allen's, Aventura, Florida and Jesse Cool, of Cool Eatz, Menlo Park. All four have been honored in past years as Celebrity Chef Ambassadors. This year's events include a festive Friday night gourmet gala on May 18 that features sustainable seafood and other dishes prepared using organic ingredients - all created by the celebrity chefs, their local host chefs and 40 exceptional regional restaurants. In addition, 40 premium wineries from California and the western United States will pour organic and sustainable wines. The gala will be preceded by a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception with actor/writer John Cleese and Chef of the Year honorees Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. Small-Group Wine Adventures On Saturday, May 19, celebrity chefs will lead small-group food and wine adventures around the Central Coast, including a gourmet picnic lunch with the chef and a winemaker. At the aquarium, chefs Jim Dodge, Elena Hernandez and Sam Choy will present morning cooking demonstrations, featuring sustainable seafood and other ingredients. Saturday evening brings the third Sustainable Seafood Challenge, an "Iron Chef"-like event in which three Cooking for Solutions chefs (Keith Froggett, Doug Katz, Chris Douglass and local chef Tim Wood of Bernardus Lodge) prepare tasty seafood dishes from the same sustainable ingredients in a tournament-style kitchen set-up while Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger preside over the festivities and offer lively commentary. The aquarium's Seafood Watch program, which inspired creation of Cooking for Solutions, gives consumers, retailers and restaurateurs the tools and information they need to choose seafood choices in ways that can assure a future with abundant ocean wildlife. Seafood Watch creates regional and national pocket guides to sustainable seafood that consumers can use to guide their seafood buying decisions at the restaurant or market. Since 1999, it has distributed nearly 21 million pocket guides, each featuring seafood items popular in different parts of the United States. It also partners with zoos, aquarium, conservation organizations, retailers, restaurateurs and seafood purveyors to shift the seafood market in directions that reward sustainability. Seafood Watch pocket guides are also included with each DVD of the Academy Award®-winning animated film Happy Feet distributed in the United States and Canada. Lead sponsor for Cooking for Solutions 2007 is Bon Appétit Management Company. Tickets
for all events are available by calling the Monterey Bay Aquarium (866) 963-9644.
Information about Cooking for Solutions 2007, including full program details and
chef biographies, can be found online at www.cookingforsolutions.org.
Event brochures are available by sending an email to events@mbayaq.org.
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