Recipe Smackdown: Eat Well, Do Good

[maggiethecat]

America’s Second Harvest is the biggest hunger-relief organization in the United States, a food-rescue SWAT team that collects the food we waste, from huge corporate donors like General Foods to the neighborhood pizza joint that tosses the leftover pies Second Harvest’s way. Thanks to Second Harvest, poor kids in after-school programs can eat something fresh, hot and tasty. The other day, they knocked on eGullet’s door.

To mark National Hunger Day, June 3rd, Second Harvest is inviting Americans to a nationwide potluck called “One Big Table, ” a fundraiser that encourages us to host a meal, collect the recipes for the dishes we take, and pass the hat around. The unique attitudes and interests of the eGullet membership put us in a special position to promote and particpate in this event; a coincidence that is not lost on Second Harvest. Between now and the weekend of the Fourth, eGulls will be hosting Memorial Day cookouts, Father’s Day fish fries, graduation galas, bachelorette bashes, Canada Day celebrations. Please consider making these festivities part of Second Harvests’ One Big Table. If your social calendar looks skimpy, Second Harvest also sponsors a Virtual Potluck: send them a recipe and a donation. One buck from you will get a meal to fifteen hungry people. Invitations and recipe cards can be downloaded from their website, www.secondharvest.org

The Second Harvest folks are very serious about collecting recipes, and they're expecting great things from eGullet, so let's not let them down. The incentive: Molly O’Neill will be testing the best for inclusion in an upcoming “One Big Table” cookbook – wouldn’t that be a nice notch on your knife? At eGullet, we are serious about recipes too, so we’re kicking incentive up another notch with the eGRA/Second Harvest Recipe Smackdown.

The Rules and Regs:

1)Host your potluck on your patio, or in eGullet Potluck cyberspace. Feel free to make arrangements right on this thread.

2)Teams must have a minimum of four people, maximum of ten.

3)One person acts as Host.

4)All your recipes must be posted into RecipeGullet to be eligible.

5)Only one existing recipe from eGRA may be used, the rest must be new to RecipeGullet.

6)After cleaning the kitchen and rubbing the wine stains from the carpet, the Host will forward the recipe links to the judges, and send the donations to Second Harvest. eGullet will forward the recipes to Second Harvest.

7)The Host will post here about the potluck. Lots of pix of the dishes and of Egulls at their most, um, festive would be well received.

8)One recipe and one Host will be selected for special recognition.

Panel of Judges: Marlene, Jonathan Day, Dave the Cook and me.

Timeframe: Now through the Fifth of July.

Prizes: For the eGull with the winning recipe, a gift certificate to the eGullet store. To the Host, a swell cookbook.

[balmagowry]

Er - Maggie, could you explain the function, in this context, of a team?

[Marlene]

Teams are the people who attend a potluck, virtual or real. For example, if you host a pot luck and invite 6 people, they are all part of your team.

[balmagowry]

Thanks, Marlene. That was my best guess, but I wasn't sure it translated on the "real" side, so I thought meybe I was missing something.