HV Eats Virtual Cooking Series Helps Fight Food Insecurity
Want to learn to feed yourself while helping to feed others? Hudson Valley Eats’ Family Cooking Series, sponsored by Chobani, allows families to do just that. Benefitting three local charities — Feeding Westchester, the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, and Dutchess Outreach — the three-part series teaches participating families how to make delicious, nutritious meals while fighting local food insecurity.
100% of the series’ proceeds go to these local charities to help fight hunger in the Hudson Valley, an existing problem only exacerbated by the pandemic. According to the most recent hunger report conducted by the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley prior to the pandemic, similar organizations provided emergency food assistance to approximately 244,400 people in the community each year, 76% of which are food insecure, meaning they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. In the past year, the number of families unable to access quality food rose to unprecedented levels, and Feeding America estimates that 1 in 7 people nationwide may have experienced food insecurity in 2020.
The cooking series is a part of HV Eat’s broader program, Cooking for a Cause. It started as a 5-part fundraiser to combat hunger in the area, featuring 5 Hudson Valley chefs, on 5 different nights, to benefit 5 local charities. The program was so well-received that HV Eats chose to expand it into a monthly series.
“We believe that by turning it into a monthly series, ‘Cooking for a Cause’ can become part of the fabric of giving and combating hunger in the Hudson Valley,” said one of the founders of Cooking for a Cause, Janet Irizarry. It fits into HV Eats’ broader goal of “making sure everybody in the Hudson Valley eats,” and not just those who can afford it.
The classes, which cost $50 a family, are taught virtually by executive chefs, and center on simple recipes for kids and parents alike. The first session happened last Tues., Apr. 13, and featured Chobani’s Jake Briere, who instructed families on how to make a quick no-churn banana ice cream using Chobani Oat and Chobani Plain Yogurt.
After payment and registration, enrolled families received a detailed shopping list and recipe. The families then purchased the necessary ingredients and tuned in on Zoom at 5:30pm to follow Chef Briere in his careful creation of the frozen treat. The classes, designed to be interactive, encouraged questions, sharing of the experience, and camaraderie among the participants.
However, to heed attention to the greater cause at hand, the lessons were not just made available to families who paid to be there. As part of the food insecurity fight, Chobani supplied 75 families with complimentary tickets and the necessary ingredients for the virtual cooking series. Additionally, Chobani will be making in-kind donations to each participating charity. Chobani’s efforts allowed local families in need not just to get access to food, but also to participate in the enriching and community-based virtual events themselves.
The remaining two events of the Cooking for a Cause series will be happening in the coming weeks. On Tues., Apr. 27, Founder of “Ladle of Love” Leslie Lampert will be hosting, teaching families how to make their own smoothies, macaroni and cheese, and veggie sticks. To wrap up the series, Hudson Valley Chef Zack Berger will help families make frozen bark, a simple yogurt sauce, and chicken pitas. Each of the recipes prominently features Chobani ingredients and will help to nourish families in need on the heels of a particularly difficult year.
To participate, visit HudsonValleyEats.com and click Chobani Family Cooking Series for more information about registration.
