Chefs Chris Brown and Nick Liu cater the launch for WOTT 2013 for The Stop.
Friends of The Stop Community Food Centre congregated on a private patio next to the Air Canada Centre on September 19 to launch the campaign that builds up to the most anticipated Toronto foodist event of the fall season: What’s On The Table 2013. The party was thrown by WOTT lead sponsor, the financial firm Stonegate Private Counsel, and the space was filled with volunteers, co-sponsors and other friends of The Stop and its signature event. Stonegate’s Chariman, Jamie Ross, explained his firm’s commitment to The Stop involved everyone in the office, and that Stonegate had chosen to work with and for Canada’s first community food centre because “it’s more than a food bank, it’s a centre of innovation and education”. Ross revealed that the goal set for thi year’s What’s On The Table was to raise $300,000; all of it for The Stop’s programs at its original Davenport Road location and Wychwood Greenbarn facilities, explaining that “it’s about bringing people together”.
Some of the people Stonegate brought together that evening were, of course chefs. While The Stop’s Chris Brown and fellow Group of Seven Chefs participant Nick Liu prepared canapés for the guests, WOTT culinary leader and celebrity chef Lynn Crawford pledged her “150% support” for this year’s WOTT. In an address to the assembled group, Crawford said that in all her travels around the world as a chef and a broadcaster, she’d never seen anything quite like The Stop and she thought “Toronto is lucky to have it.” Crawford, who waved to fellow Food Network Canada star Roger Mooking, explained that this year’s WOTT promised a mix of new and old chefs, representing some of the best kitchens in the city.
The Stop’s Executive Director, Rachel Gray, thanked supporters and sponsors, and explained that this year’s WOTT was to be held in a new venue, the Daniels Spectrum arts hub in Regent Park. Later, in conversation with GFR, she said she hoped that the new site would spark interest and that it was chosen in part because of its easier access to the downtown core and amenities like parking.
What’s On The Table will be held on Wednesday, November 6 at 7pm. Visit wott.thestop.org to find out more.
Malcolm Jolley is a founding editor of Good Food Revolution and Executive Director of Good Food Media, the company that publishes it. Follow him at twitter.com/malcolmjolley
