Here is what I want you to do, make reservations for
Thursday, September 18th at any one of these restaurants,
enjoy a great meal and these kind and generous restaurateurs will donate from
25% to 50% of the revenue to Moveable Feast. It has
been 21 years since the inception of Dining
Out for Life, a charity event that benefits over 60 service organizations
nationally and here in Baltimore, Moveable
Feast.
Moveable
Feast, a non-profit which offers meal delivery programs to homebound people
living with HIV/AIDS and breast cancer, transportation and in addition, a
culinary training program.
Last year we interviewed
Dining Out For Life celebrity spokesperson, Ted Allen. Here is a look back at
that interview.
The Food Network’s
James Beard Award winning host of Chopped Ted Allen has been a
spokesperson for Dining Out for Life for the past six years. Ted Allen shared time to chat with Examiner.com
about his commitment to Dining Out for Life, how Queer Eye for the Straight
Guy evolved, Top
Chef, Iron
Chef America and more.
Examiner: When you look back at your early days as a
journalist in Chicago what were your aspirations? Any dreams of what the future
would hold for you?
Ted Allen: I had no aspirations of television.
The contract to write for Esquire Magazine was my dream comes true. I wanted to
write for a quality magazine; stylish, experimental and one with flair. I had
to hustle for the Esquire job, they weren’t found on Craigslist.
E: Thank you for doing your part as Dining Out for Life’s
spokesperson for the past six years. In fact, it is DOFL’s 20th anniversary
this year. What have been the accomplishments and what do we still need to do?
TA: Over 4
million dollars has been raised annually for DOFL in 50 cities for local AIDS
service charities. The money raised in each city stays in that city.
HIV/AIDS
has promising therapies and is no longer the automatic death sentence. It
initially hit the gay community first but with precautions the incidents of the
disease in gays were down. The disease then seemed to spread to women of color
and now with young gay men the numbers are increasing. The fight continues.
The
real heroes are the activist, health care workers, volunteers. Dining Out for
Life is a simple opportunity that by dining out on a specific day at designated
restaurants, patrons are making a meaningful contribution. Restaurateurs donate
a portion of the proceeds of that evening (and/or lunch) to DOFL. Everyone
wins; the restaurateurs fill their seats with new patrons.
E: How did Queer Eye for the Straight Guy come about? It was pretty brave even for 2003 to ‘come
out’ nationally. It wasn’t that long before that Ellen DeGeneres’s career
suffered a blow when she came ‘out’ in 1997.
TA: No
one took it more seriously being ‘out’ on television. Many didn’t like having
it shoved in their faces. It opened a door for the LGBT community. It allowed
me to come out to many but a few relatives learned when the show aired.
Since
1933 Esquire
Magazine has set the
standard for men to be modern world travelers, how to dress, where to dine –
numerous service articles, an orientation to being a well rounded male. The
folks from Queer
Eye were huge fans of Esquire
Magazine; it was almost a template for the show.
E: How did being a judge on Top Chef and Iron Chef America prepare you for hosting Chopped?
TA: When Queer
Eye for the Straight Guy was
at its peak (Emmy Award winner),
I was on two television networks, Bravo and The Food Network. That was pretty
unheard of at that time. It was important to talk about food in a way anyone
could understand. Both Iron Chef America and Top Chef refined
that talent, improved my skills to communicate on how food tastes.
It
was Alton Brown and Tom Colicchio who influenced me to focus on the food and
not who cooked it. They are both scrupulously fair in their judging.
Don’t forget; make your
reservations and Dine Out For Life, Thursday, September 18. If you can’t do
that, do think about a donation
at Moveable Feasts.
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