Wednesday night saw upwards of six hundred hungry souls pour into the Wychwood Barns for The Stop’s annual gala, “What’s On The Table.”
A “who’s who” of Toronto chefs was on hand, donating their time and talents to one of the city’s most-loved, food-related fundraisers. Now in its seventh year, the evening featured both a silent and live auction, h’ors d’oeuvres from thirty-six of the best cooks in town, and liberal amounts of wine and beer.
The Stop Community Food Centre is as much about education as it is about increasing access to healthy food. In addition to its food bank, state-of-the-art greenhouse, markets, and bake oven, The Stop offers programs in urban agriculture, sustainable food systems, cooking, composting and gardening—all with an eye to building community and eliminating inequality.
David Chrystian from Victor in Hotel Le Germain
Debbie Voth, one of the many volunteers I spoke to at the event, teaches youths about nutrition, gardening and social issues as part of The Stop’s after-school programs. “It’s the game of life,” as Voth described it. “How to budget, home economics, elements that integrate social aspects with hands-on experience.” And there she was putting in extra hours at the fundraiser? “I just want to do as much as possible to help out.”
It was a sentiment shared by everyone I talked to. There was Mark Cutrara from Cowbell, serving house-cured pepperoni. “It’s one of my favorite events of the year,” he said. “You know, teach a man to fish rather than give him a fish, and all that.”
Ashley Shortall from the Stop with Bertrand Alepee from The Tempered Chef
I ran into Ashley Shortall, The Stop’s Community Chef, as she and Chris Brown were dishing Maple Roasted Pork with Red Indian Carrot marmalade nestled on a breakfast scone, along with a steady stream of one-liners. “It’s a lovely, elegant event,” she enthused. “A total success. Now eat your pork!”
After much dipsy doodling through the crowd I made it to Todd Perrin’s station, who you may remember from this year’s Top Chef Canada. Representing his Chef’s Inn of St John’s, Perrin was paired with Jesse Valins of Trevor Kitchen; together they served up Newfoundland/Ontario Surf and Turf—pork belly croquettes with parsnip puree, dill with hemp seed topped with Alder smoked cod that Todd brought with him from The Rock. “I smoked it myself,” Todd said proudly.
“What, the hemp seed,” I asked.
Todd Perrin from the Chef's Inn (St.John's, Nfld) and Top Chef Canada contestant
Todd pretended not to hear me. “Smoking it was a shit show. Six hours in a fracking blizzard,” only he doesn’t say fracking. Todd got a kick out of the “I ? Baby Seals” T-shirt that I wore in his honour, having enjoyed one of his Flipper Pies the last time I was in St. John’s.
Around the corner I found the vivacious Laura Kirk and Lyn Crawford from Ruby Watchco, so I sampled their chicken liver parfait. I started to get dizzy from pleasure, and yet there were so many things left to try. Must. Pace. My. Self.
The items up for silent auction were impressive enough, running the gamut from a day spent cooking with Corey Vitiello at the Harbord Room to weekend getaways in New York and L.A. But at around eight o’clock Stephen Ranger of Waddington’s got the bidding started on the big ticket items. For a while Ranger had a tough time corralling the crowd’s attention, what with the combination of good food, good wine and difficult acoustics, though he eventually succeeded at summoning his inner Headmaster and within minutes “auction fever” had spread like a plague. People avidly outbid each other for a weeks’ stay in Turks & Caicos, photography by Edward Burtynysky, and trips to London featuring dinner at Jamie Oliver’s. (It should be pointed out that Oliver toured The Stop for a day last year and was blown away, blubbering “We have nothing like this in London!”) These items went for bids in the five, six, seven thousand dollar range. The crowd had evidently arrived with empty stomachs but deep pockets. I retreated to the back lest I accidentally upped the ante by scratching my nose.
Nick Liu from Niagara Street Cafe
Perhaps the most important item up for auction isn’t an item at all—“Support for the Stop: 52 lunches.” Every week the stop makes lunch for community members, eight hundred or so lunches in total, and basically the winning bid would be financing these lunches for an entire year. Within three minutes $20,000 was raised in bids and donations; for the first time in about a year I was proud of my city and started to get choked up.
“It takes a big community to wrap their arms around an event like this,” Nick Saul, The Stop’s Executive Director, told the crowd. He pointed out that 90 percents of the money raised went directly toward The Stop’s programs. When I later bumped into Saul effortlessly working the crowd, he made Anderson Cooper look like an awkward hillbilly. I congratulated him on the evening’s success.
“I’m humbled,” he said. “I have nothing but the deepest admiration and respect for all the chefs, their skills, their willingness to participate.”
Matty Matheson and crew from Parts & Labour
One of the great things about the evening was witnessing such prolific talent all under the same cavernous roof at one time, brought together by a cause they believe in. Here is Order of Canada recipient Jamie Kennedy hobnobbing with Andrew MacKenzie from Buddha Dog, MacKenzie cackling into a cauldron of ham hocks and beans that he and partner Andrew Hunter would be serving on wieners.
Chef Jason Bangerter from Luma assembling lobster burgers on brioche buns
Luma’s Jason Bangerter had his sleeves rolled up, doling out “lobster burgers.” “Here you go,” he said, sliding one my way. “Just like MacDonalds.”
There was Matty Matheson from Parts and Labour hamming it up with someone who asked to remain anonymous; Niagara Street Grill’s Nick Liu was fresh off the plane from cooking for the Canadian delegation at the Pan Am Games, but hadn’t missed a beat.
If the event proved one thing it was this: united by a common cause, a diverse crowd, some folks dripping with pearl necklaces and others in sandals, could put the lie to the city’s mythical divide between left wing pinko downtown elite and selfish SUV-driving suburbanite.
French Gourmandise from Nadege Patisserie
Jamie Kennedy and Bruce Leslie from Gilead Cafe
