Taste of the Nation has helped fight hunger for 25 years.

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On August 9, 2014 I went to the Orlando World Center Marriott (8701 World Center Drive Orlando FL) to sketch Taste of the Nation which is the nation’s premiere culinary benefit dedicated to making sure no kid grows up hungry. Each spring and summer, the nation’s top chefs and mixologists donate their time, talent and passion at nearly 40 Taste of the Nation events across the United States and Canada with the goal to raise critical funds needed to end childhood hunger. No Kid Hungry, Share our Strength, organizes the events. The beneficiary’s in Orlando are, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida.

Second Harvest Food Bank secures and distributes food and grocery products to approximately 550 local nonprofit feeding programs throughout Central Florida. Last year with the help of donors, volunteers,  and a caring community, the food bank distributed nearly 64 million pounds of grocery products- the equivalent of more than 53 million meals. On average more than 55,000 people receive assistance provided by Second harvest every week. Second Harvest recently moved into a new 100,000 square foot hunger relief center. This puts the bank in a position to fill the gap of what our community really needs.

Coalition for the Homeless was founded in 1987 by concerned citizens who noticed the growing problem of homelessness in our community. It has grown into the largest provider of homeless services in Central Florida and the largest residential facility for children. Their mission is to transform lives of homeless men, women and children by providing critical services to end their crisis of homelessness. The Coalition has three residential facilities and an off site community housing program. Case managers develop individualized self sufficiency plans which include educational opportunities, job skill training, budget management, counseling and more. Services are provided to over 600 people each night including 150 children. They served over 300,000 meals and provided over 245,000 nights of shelter last year.

I decided to sketch the Captains Grille (Epcot, 1700 Epcot Resort Blvd., Orlando, FL) as they set up and served patrons. They served a plate that had cauliflower puree topped with pan seared scallops. Mixed greens were mixed with spiced rum raisins with hazelnut vinaigrette and placed on top. To say it was delicious is an understatement.  The chef shared the recipe but I can not share it for legal reasons. I plan to try and make it myself someday since this culinary army made it look so easy.  The scallop dish was ironically the only plate I got to taste. By the time my sketch was done all the food vendors were packing up. $301,317 was raised at the Orlando Taste of the Nation to fight hunger.

Whole Hog Butchery Class

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On January 23rd I went to the East End Market, which is part of the Audubon Park Exchange (3201 Corrine Dr. Orlando, FL) to watch chef Tony Adams butcher a hog. Tony is an Award-Winning who founded Big Wheel Provisions and the Big Wheel Food Truck. He offered an in-depth preview of the Big Wheel Whole Hog Dinner that would be served later in the week. In preparation for the dinner, Chef Adams will showed guests how he goes from a whole hog to recipe-ready cut. The live demonstration included the butchering, different preparation techniques, and tastings. Additional hoers d’ oeuvres were be provided, and guests were invited to bring your own beer (BYOB).

Tony noted that this pig didn’t have a bullet hole in it’s forehead so it was likely electrocuted and then had its throat cut so it would bleed out. As a matter of fact he found some electrocution burns at the pig’s neck that further supported that theory. Apparently this is a quick and painless way to die. He stressed his respect for the animal and was grateful that it would offer nourishment. He explained that a good butcher could cut an animal up into its prime cuts within 15 minutes.

The belly, (number 6 on the chart) is where bacon comes from. The loin or New York strip (number 2) is found around the base of the spine just above the hip. Ironically the butt (number 4) isn’t from the pigs butt but rather from the strong upper muscles that support the head. The pigs head was the first thing that he cut off with a few precise incissions with his very sharp knife. The folding table used for the demonstration was a bit wobbly, so it wasn’t the ideal place to butcher the pig.

Tony is actually quite a good artist, because he drew detailed charts that explained the cuts as he did them. He showed how to remove the ribs from the spine with surgical precision. He said, “This looks like a rack of ribs because it IS a rack of ribs.” Hoers d’ oeuvres were prepared in the kitchen by Jes Tantalo using the cuts of meat he had just removed and gusts got to taste the pig even as they watched it butchered. With the sketch done, I stood up and moved in closer with the dozen or so students. I’ve always wanted to sketch a dissection or autopsy so this was the next best thing.

Taste of the Nation

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Share Our Strength’s 23rd Annual Taste of the Nation was a huge success, raising $248,785 to fight childhood hunger! Local beneficiaries are Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida and Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, along with the statewide Florida Impact.

More than 2,300 people enjoyed delicacies prepared by 37 of Central Florida’s leading restaurants, bubbly and other beverages from 18 top providers, and live music by local band, Crash Reality.

The night included a silent auction presented by Neiman Marcus, chance drawings for Jet Blue tickets and an island getaway, a live auction, and an instant “wine cellar” of 100 prime bottles to the lucky person whose key opened the lock.

Emceed by DJs Scott McKenzie of MIX 105.1 and Paco of 1059 SUNNY FM, the event featured the Creekstone Farms “throw-down” cooking competition rematch. Honorary Event Chair Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orlando Restaurant Guide’s Scott Joseph, and WFTV anchor Bob Opsahl were the judges. Winning for the second year, by just two points, chef Dan Nester of Rosen Shingle Creek Resort had the privilege of signing a generous check to Taste of the Nation Orlando from Creekstone Farms.

Terry and I arrived an hour early and my sketch was blocked in before the crowds grew thick around the Orlando World Center Marriott‘s food stations. I worked from a round table while Terry scouted out all the food choices. Waves of couples joined me at the table as I worked. I noticed that if I sketched someone in line for food, they would invariably walk to my table to eat. When the sketch was finished, I looked for Terry and started sampling the amazing food offered. After several small meat dishes I was already full. I knew from last year’s event, that Chef Jean-Louis of the Royal Plaza Hotel served an amazing Bananas Foster. The line was long but I braved it since I knew it was worth it. Fresh bananas were sliced length wise in half, coated with a fine mist of nuts and fried in butter. The chefs worked with amazing speed keeping the line moving. A scoop of vanilla ice cream topped off the fried bananas along with a rich glaze. I asked for a second serving for Terry. That single serving made my evening complete. I washed it down with a Magners Irish cider.

Eden Bar's New Menu

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The Eden Bar outside the Enzian Theater hosted a media event to introduce new lunch menu items. I arrived right after work and started sketching before the bar got too crowded. Christie West the bar manager gathered all the staff together to discuss the game plan for the evening. When she spoke with me later in the evening, she explained that all the bartenders had gone out and shopped for unique ingredients. They then set up a drink lab where each bartender created their own signature drink. The first drink that came out was a Vodka Lemonade Lime drink in a martini glass. The drink had to be sipped using the dainty straw to avoid sipping the herbs. I made that mistake only once. When my watercolor brush ran out of water, I refilled it with this light vodka drink. The drink was delicious as well. The next drink sample was a black currant gin, also quite refreshing.

Finally some food samples arrived. The first was an Ahi tuna with mango, avocado, fresh red onion and sun dried tomato, lightly tossed with chili oil. This was a radical change from the usual menu where I might expect pizza. This was fine dining cuisine presented beautifully. Executive Chef Ed Hollingsworth is responsible for the new splash of color and tastes. A Mediterranean dish had babaganoush, hummus, sun dried tomatoes and eggplant which was a bit to salty for my taste. The dishes just kept coming, there was a Mac and Cheese Teriyaki and a stuffed mushroom that was amazing!

My favorite drink served was simply called Sugar and Spice. It tasted like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years all served in a cup. I told the server how much I liked it and it turned out she was the creator. I will certainly be returning to enjoy all the Halloween themed movies in October and to continue sampling this amazing new menu.

Kelly Fitzpatrick who blogs about Central Florida night life was at the next table laughing vivaciously and enjoying herself. I was shocked to find out that days later she had passed away in her sleep. She was just 36 years old. Life is short people, make every moment count.

Fill the Grill Championship Cookoff

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I rushed to Whole Foods Market after work to witness the Championship Cook off. Steve Saelg, the master chef from The Crooked Spoon Food Truck, was up against Alec Cheak, the master chef from Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar. The chefs were each given $20 to spend then 20 minutes to shop and 20 minutes to prepare a delicious grilled summer meal. The stakes were high, a bronze chef’s trophy sat on the counter top waiting to be claimed. The announcer followed the chefs around the store. At the checkout counter, chef Steve realized he had gone a little over budget. He had to surrender his arugula. Then he hit the $20 mark right on the nose. Chef Alec was also over budget by ¢94. He was going to surrender his nuts, but instead returned a peach.

The chefs then raced to prepare their meals. Sharp knives sliced and diced. Steve was making a deconstructed Italian sausage. He cut up a red pepper. A bagette was toasted as he prepared a tomato sauce with pepper romano and rosemary. Chef Alec was grilling pork chops. He combined fresh lemon juice and olive oil to create a Spring mix. Apples and peaches were grilled. He whisked a balsamic reduction. Roasted red peppers were mixed in with an apricot coulis. Brie cheese was served as a side.

The judges were, Patricia Letakis of Florida Travel and Life, Kendra Lott of Edible Orlando and Bernie Tostanowski the Whole Foods prepared Foods Team Leader. Steve’s Italian Sausage was served first. He instructed the judges to assemble the ingredients into a sandwich. Patricia stacked a Dagwood sized sandwich and chomped in. Bernie held back preferring to use his fork. Chef Alec’s pork chops were savored by the judges. The brie cheese was a bold choice but it was complimented by the grilled fruit.

Chef Steve’s waited with his wife and daughter for the verdict. I figured he might get bonus points for being a family man. In the end, Chef Alec Cheak was declared the winner. The Fill the Grill trophy has a new home at Fleming’s Steak House. I desperately wanted a pork chop, instead I went home to leftovers.

Big Wheel Food Truck

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Every Monday there is a farmers market that sets up in the parking lot of Stardust Video and Coffee in the Audubon Park district of Orlando starting around 6pm. I stopped by right after work at Full Sail. When I got there vendors were still setting up their tents. The Big Wheel Food Truck was parked at the entrance of the parking lot. Several flimsy roadside dividers were set up to keep cars from trying to pull into the lot to park. I decided I should order dinner from the truck. Inside the truck the three chefs were busy cutting and preparing the food. I asked if they were ready to take an order, and they weren’t. They suggested I return in about 15 minutes.

I sat across the way leaning back against a road sign and I began to sketch. Sure enough, 15 minutes into the sketch people started to line up for food. The Big Wheel Food Truck is proud of serving fresh local food that is prepared in small batches, “because, frankly, we think it just tastes better that way.” Their slogan is “Local is Lovely.” Cars kept parking in front of me so vendors could unload their gear. One fellow backed up and knocked over one of the “no parking” dividers. I picked it up for him. The next woman to back out asked if I could take care of the divider. Suddenly I was the gate keeper. I left the dividers out of the way and continued to sketch.

Finally I ordered my dinner. I decided to try a meatloaf burger made from local grass fed beef. The burger was topped with house made bacon with local lettuce, garden herbs and a big wheel onion. The burger was juicy and delicious with a creamy sauce but a bit to salty for my taste. I ordered Captain Eli’s blueberry pop to wash it all down.

Chef Tony Adams who founded the food truck had a tent set up in the market to sell local produce and to promote the truck. The truck uses twitter to let people know where the truck is parked. These up to the minute updates called “Chase our Wheels” can be found at twitter.com/bigwheeltruck. I showed Tony the sketch and asked for a business card. He thought their might be some in the truck so he jogged over and into the truck to search for them. He gave me someone’s card with his info written by hand on the back. I often run out of my business cards so I found it comforting and endearing that this was a true small local business.

Fill the Grill Cook off 2

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The second “Iron Chef” style Cook off at Whole Foods matched chef Tuan Tran from Crave against chef Steve Saelg of the Crooked Spoon Food Truck. The chefs were given $2o to spend and 20 minutes to shop. They then had 20 minutes to prepare a healthy summer meal using an electric grill. The event was again held at Whole Foods Market at Phillips Crossing (8003 Turkey Lake Road). When I arrived the chefs were arranging their respective cooking areas. With a minute to the start of the throw-down, two shopping carts were rolled out for the chefs. An announcer began a countdown to the start of the competition. As the chefs shopped I sketched the grilling area.

Chef Tuan Tran arrived at his grilling station first. He prepared a Korean grilled beef marinated in soy sauce with a pepper paste, sesame seeds and sugar. He also made cellophane noodles marinated in soy, sesame seed oil and garlic, all grilled in butter. He also grilled tomatoes with olive oil, garlic and minced cilantro. The crowning touch was that he also bought several bottles of Vietnamese beer to serve with his dish.

Chef Steve Saelg was busy preparing a chili crusted chicken thighs with ginger, fennel served with couscous. He also grilled avocado and sliced orange wheels sprinkled with a ginger fennel vinaigrette. The chefs moved with swift deliberation. Before I knew it they were done.

I continued sketching as the three judges tasted the dishes and deliberated. Chef Steve Saelg was declared the winner. He will go to the final competition against the winner of the previous throw-down, Alec Cheak of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar.

22nd Annual Taste of the Nation

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Great food, great drink for an even greater cause. In America more than 17 million children struggle with hunger. That is close to one in four children. For 28 years Second Harvest Food Bank has helped feed the hungry in Central Florida. With the help of the food industry and the community, millions of pounds of wholesome food is distributed each year to 500 local feeding programs. Yet in today’s economy the need continues to grow.

Taste of the Nation was held at the Orlando World Center Marriott (8701 World Center Drive). Terry and I arrived a little early so I could get started on a sketch before the event got too crowded. More than 2000 people were expected to attend. We bumped into Paula Large who is an excellent artist. Paula’s husband was working the event as a chef on stilts. I saw Maria Diestro, who is the Second Harvest Communications Manager. She had invited me to sketch and report on the event. While Terry went to shop for reading glasses, Maria walked me into the ballroom. The room was immense. All the vendors had donated their time and food to the cause. Maria said I had to the Royal Plaza table to try Chef Jean Louis’s famous bananas foster. This was the first place I stopped. Jean Louis put butter in the frying pan and the banana halves sizzled. He then drizzled something in the pan which lit up causing a fire ball. Oddly Jean had no eyelashes. Sure enough the bananas foster was fabulous! I was content and fired up to start sketching.

Walking the room I was attracted to the orange African sunset behind Sanaa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. Chef Bob Getchell was preparing the spicy Durban Chicken. He demonstrated to everyone working the event how much food should be served. The dish had to look good as well as taste good. The spicy Durban chicken was served on a bed of Basmati rice with mint chutney and papadam. The dish was a little to hot for my taste. I wished I had a beer to cut the spices.

After I finished my sketch, I texted Terry and we found one another in the cavernous room. She had been sampling dishes while I sketched. She introduced me to the dishes she liked the most. A wild Boar soft taco was delicious as was a sweet pork belly. I was thirsty from the salty meat dishes so I searched for water or a soda. I couldn’t find either one so I settled on a white wine. Seating was only available in the VIP area which was roped off. After an hour of standing I was getting tired. I can’t imagine how the women standing in their high heals managed. When Terry wandered off in search of more food, I sat on my camping chair. A chef walked by and, pointing to his temple he said, “You were smart to bring your own chair.”

There was a chef throw-down competition on the main stage. The competition only lasted 10 minutes so I didn’t try and sketch. 150 Keys were being sold for $25. One of those keys would open a door to a wine cellar containing thousands of dollars worth of wine. At the end of the evening a long line of people gathered to try their luck at unlocking the door. It only took five attempts before a woman’s key worked. She shouted in delight. Taste of the Nation Orlando raised $167,500 to fight hunger in Central Florida that night.

Fill the Grill Cook-off

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Whole Foods Market at Phillips Crossing (8003 Turkey Lake Road) hosted the first of three celebrity chef cook-offs. In this high stakes battle, renowned local chef John Rivers of 4 Rivers Smokehouse competed against Alec Cheak of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. Each chef was given $20 and 20 minutes to speed shop for ingredients. They then had 20 minutes to make a delicious, creative summer meal using only a grill. They stood side by side with their shopping carts as the announcer counted down to the start. As the chefs wandered the aisles, I remained behind sketching the grilling area. Oriane Lluch who helped organize the event, gave me a press release. A Sentinel reporter video taped the competition.

Both chefs spent $19 and change on their ingredients. John Rivers hit an unexpected snag when he realized that the calamari steaks he had purchased were frozen. They were sent back and fresh steaks were ordered. Then John discovered that his grill wasn’t working. Unfazed, he ran to a grill in the far corner of the kitchen to grill his fresh vegetables. I began to wonder if the competition was rigged. Whole, fresh, local and seasonal ingredients were used by both chefs. Alec grilled a Pacific Cod over a bed of grilled spring leaks, jicama and mango, accompanied with a balsamic orange, blackberry reduction. John prepared a grilled calamari steak with cilantro along with grilled red and yellow peppers and fresh carrots, topped with a ginger BBQ sauce.

Three judges tasted the light summer dishes deliberating with each taste. The announcer stirred the crowd raising the excitement. After some deliberation, chef Alec Cheak was declared the winner. He smiled broadly. On August 16th Chef Tuan Tran of Crave will face off against Chef Steve Saelg of the Crooked Spoon. The winner of that cook-off will then face off against chef Alec Cheak in the final cook-off on August 30th. The cook-offs all happen at Whole Foods at 6:30pm. I realized as I was leaving that I was hungry. I went home and popped a frozen diner in the microwave.