Join Me as Taste of Nation Celebrates 25 Years of Fighting Hunger with @2harvestCFL #OrlTaste

Returning for its 25th year, Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation® Orlando, locally presented by Quality One Wireless, will take place Aug. 9 at the Orlando World Center Marriott celebrating Orlando’s culinary excellence and Taste of the Nation’s legacy of combating childhood hunger.

Beneficiaries: Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida and Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. All proceeds benefit Share Our Strength’s efforts to eradicate childhood hunger. To purchase your ticket, Click HERE.
Showcasing the culinary delights of 35 of Central Florida’s leading chefs and restaurants, this year’s Taste of the Nation Orlando will feature two James Beard Foundation Award semi-finalists – Hari Pulapaka of Cress Restaurant and Kevin Fonzo of K Restaurant and Wine Bar.

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 Melissa d’Arabian, best known for her TV series 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.
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.

“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.
“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

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
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
FreshPoint
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
Red Wing Restaurant
Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
SeaWorld Orlando
Second Harvest Food Bank Culinary Training Program
Soco Southern Contemporary Cuisine
Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, A Land Remembered Restaurant
Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Cala Bella Restaurant
Sushi Pop Restaurant
Taverna Opa
Three2OH
T-Rex Orlando at Downtown Disney

Share Our Strength®, a national nonprofit, is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry® campaign—a national effort to end childhood hunger in America—Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs; invests in community organizations fighting hunger; teaches families how to cook healthy, affordable meals; and builds public-private partnerships to end childhood hunger, at the state and city level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry.

To purchase your ticket, Click HERE.

 

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