Haitian food raises Haitian funds

By Colleen Isherwood
Senior contributing editor

TORONTO—Seven chefs serving seven courses raised more than $7,000 for Médicins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders at The Chefs for Haiti cooking event held Feb. 10 at Great Cooks on Eight in downtown Toronto. 

Once the Canadian government matches the $7,660 raised at the event, the amount will swell to $15,320.  Wines and some of the ingredients were donated, so every dollar has gone to MSF.

The event, organized by Esther Benaim of Great Cooks on Eight, was billed as “a fun an memorable hands-on cooking event where participants will create a delectable seven-course Haitian-themed dinner with the assistance of the chefs.”

“We had an amazing turnout with almost 60 guests who all cooked together with the seven chefs to make a delicious meal,” said Benaim.

“Each station, led by a chef, made one of the dishes.  Some of them were appetizers that were served during the cooking.  Then all the guests sat down for four more courses.”

Olivia Bolano, executive chef with All the Best Fine Foods, led a group that created coconut crab cakes with a beet and chayote salad, while the team led by Brenda Kwong-Hing of Delicious! Catering made Haitian-inspired dumplings with mango puree.

Jerk chicken confit on salt-crusted plantain chips, tied with chive bows were made by Jayne Dunsmore of Jayne’s Gourmet Catering and her group, while Katherine Hall, executive chef at Hall's Kitchen, led participants in making Haitian “bruschetta”.

The other courses consisted of jerk boulettes (beef meatballs) and diri et pois coles (rice with red beans) made by Fiona Lim from George and her gang, whole pargo (red snapper) wrapped in banana leaf, pineapple pikliz, breadfruit/ackee stew by the team led by Andrea Nicholson-Jack of Great Cooks on Eight, and petite cheesecake stuffed French toast, which included nutmeg cheesecake with dark spiced rum sauce, along with tropical fruit salsa created by Therese de Grace and Karen Balco of Lola’s Commissary along with their team-mates.

“One of the highlights was the live auction, in between courses, of about 10 items which brought in almost $2,000,” said Benaim.

“Andrea, our executive chef, and another of our chefs, Nigel Bose, were both auctioned off to cook for dinner parties.  That created a lot of fun and excitement.”