While we realize that most of you have probably eaten (or NOT) your lunch by now, we're curious to see which of these holidays, both of which took place this very afternoon, you chose to observe: Eat What You Want Day vs. Skip Lunch Fight Hunger Day. So. Are you a glutton or a saint? more ›

Need to warm up? This story should give you the warm fuzzies (sorry). City Harvest reports (via their Facebook) that "FreshDirect donated approximately 72,000 pounds of food this week after Monday’s snowstorm brought business to a halt on the East Coast." The food would have gone undelivered and to waste otherwise. This is a photo from this morning's 1,000 pound drop off at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in Chelsea. more ›

Viral videos are okay when they're for a good cause, right? City Harvest has a pretty neat one out where the star of the show is... the apple! Take a look: more ›

Down at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center, this year's Canstruction exhibit is underway, with 100,693 cans being used to make ingenious sculptures to benefit City Harvest. All these sculptures were assembled in a single night, and yesterday the winners were announced, with jurors declaring "Feed the Bank (Piggy Bank)," by Arianna Braun Architects, PLLC, best in show. The award for Best Use of Labels went to the Beatles-inspired "We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends," by Ted Moudis Associates. Best Structural Ingenuity went to "A Fungus to Feed Us" by Platt Byard Dovell White Architects more ›

Over the past 25 years City Harvest has rescued vast quantities of excess food that the food industry would have otherwise discarded; they then deliver it free of charge to more than 600 community food programs. With the faltering economy leading to even greater demand, nearly 350,000 children and their families in NYC don’t have enough to eat. To raise money, City Harvest is holding its annual Skip Lunch Fight Hunger initiative on May 6th, asking individuals to donate their lunch money. Here's how it works: Participants sign up as a team captain for their company, organization, or school. By May 6, team captains receive brown paper lunch bags, posters, and facts about childhood hunger to help publicize the event, and the captains collect donations. Last year's initiative was a big success, with some 15,000 New Yorkers raising over $500,000 in a single day to help feed over 30,000 children and their families for the entire summer. The top 25 fundraising teams will have a chance to win one of five prize packages, including tickets to the U.S. Open, where the food is so expensive you may want to skip lunch yet again. Details here. more ›

The word from Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert’s people is that he’ll enter the television fray this fall, with the PBS version of his (currently) web-only Avec Eric. The website follows a man, a plan, a toaster oven format: here Ripert bangs out a traditional Raspberry Clafouti in his Cuisinart in just a few minutes. We interviewed the four-star chef last year and asked him about television appearances, which have been relatively rare. “I like to communicate,” he told us. “And to communicate on TV is very effective. I love being on television, but with boundaries.” Ripert will also appear on tonight’s episode of Top Chef where he sometimes serves as guest judge, with insouciance that’s become atypical of the usually frenzied chef-competition. And last month, Ripert announced that Le Bernardin will donate $1 to City Harvest for each customer who dines at the restaurant for the rest of 2009. Avec Eric, the show, debuts in the fall. more ›

Eric Ripert really is that cool. The four-star chef—a sometime Top Chef judge, practicing Buddhist, and altogether nice person—announced this morning that throughout 2009, Le Bernardin will donate $1 to City Harvest for each customer who dines at the restaurant. City Harvest feeds more than 260,000 men, women, and children each week; the charity organization “rescues” more than 20 million pounds of food each year from various food service sectors. Chef Ripert also announced this morning that $1 will be donated to City Harvest for every copy sold of his new behind the scenes cookbook called On The Line (seen here), which we wrote about last month.

Top Chef fever is spreading like salmonella, and who among us can resist the hype, especially considering that the new season of Top Chef, premiering next month, was filmed here in NYC? Last week the Top Chef Truck concluded its tour in Union Square with former cheftestants Richard Blais and Andrew D'Ambrosi cooking for us in the tractor trailer's kitchen. And yesterday a slew of Top Chef stars, past and future, were wrangled for cooking demos and flesh-pressing at the Taste of the Five Boroughs fundraiser for City Harvest. Blogger Life Vicarious was on the scene, which turned into a bloodbath:

We did find Andrew D'Ambrosi at his knife skills demo across Vanderbilt Hall where he was proud to represent the restaurant "rockin' the three stars." And how he represented! Showcasing his non-sissy knife skills at breakneck speed, he started supreming fruit before carving into his finger, began bleeding, turned to the demo sinks disappointed to discover they're just props, was first handed paper towels, then a bandage, then finally left the stage as an EMT arrived, and wanting to shift the focus and cameras away from him and back to his demo partner Spike Mendelsohn he went backstage to be tended by the EMT. (We can't even imagine how an actual sissy would have handled this!)

How much did you spend on lunch today? $10 for a salad at Chop't? $7.50 for a sandwich at Pax? A whopping $175 on the lunch tasting menu at per se? Regardless, if you set that amount of money aside tomorrow, May 14th, and donate it to City Harvest's Skip Lunch, Fight Hunger campaign, you can make a difference in the lives of hungry New Yorkers. more ›

Eating out and being philanthropic may seem mutually exclusive, but there is a way the money you spend to eat out can help others at the same time. During the month of April, restaurants will pair up with the “Spring for City Harvest” campaign, each eatery offering special appetizers, entrees, desserts, and in some cases complete prix fixe menus. They will donate 10% of proceeds directly to City Harvest, where the money raised will be used to feed the city's hungry men, women and children. more ›

The football season is over, but news about the Giants and their Super Bowl win never gets old. Here's what's been happening since the ticker tape parade: more ›

However you are spending Christmas Day, we hope you have a happy and safe holiday. Please take the time to think of others: If you get new clothes, make room in your closet and consider donating your gently worn ones to charities Donate food to City Harvest or the Food Bank. Here are more giving opportunities via the City of New York. more ›

During the holidays, we are all bombarded with requests for charitable giving. Sure, it's a great way to do something good and squeeze in one more tax deduction before year's end, but given the number of requests, making a choice about how to spend your charity dollars can be somewhat daunting. The Times focused this week on the dizzying number of food-related charities making year-end requests. more ›

December is here, and the responsible citizens behind National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month have their work cut out for them, because this month is also National Egg Nog Month. On Monday night the fabulous folks at Mount Gay Rum (no comments, please) will be kicking off the month-long nogathon with an eggsellent event at the swank World Bar, former home of the world’s most expensive cocktail, located in the Trump World Tower.... more ›

The city’s food charities are dealing with dire shortages this year, exacerbated by cutbacks in federal food aid. Many places like St. Benedict the Moor Neighborhood Center in the South Bronx are almost barren; according to today’s Times, the center’s pantry used to be stacked up to the ceiling with food but now holds just “a few sacks of potatoes, some cornflakes, juice and peanut butter.” To help fill the void, City Harvest, the non-profit... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing patient at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, a car vs. overpass on Kings Highway in Brooklyn, and a truck explosion on 64th Rd. and 108th St. in Queens.
• A sharp-sighted deckhand on a Staten Island Ferry spotted a pistol sticking out of the pocket of a dim-witted passenger snoozing on a Sunday morning ferry. The passenger, who was arrested, had a long record of criminal weapons possessions.
• The wife of the slain orthodontist Daniel Malakov previously met with a political consultant to plan a custody protest with her daughter in front of the White House. She gave up her plan when advised that "nobody would care."
• Lindsay Lohan is reportedly looking to rejuvenate her image by appearing as the assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant on the television series "Ugly Betty."
• Strip-club Scores is sponsoring a food drive with collected food dedicated to City Harvest called "Cans for Cans." Club customers will gain free admission with a printed-out copy of the promotion from the business' web site and a donated can of food.
• A very interesting look at how pidgin Gaelic by Irish newcomers to NYC shaped modern American slang.
• Community Board 10 will be holding a public hearing on the proposed rezoning of 125th St. on November 14th.
• Bomb scare at Laguardia airport.

Once again Taste of New York lived up to its name, with a roster of restaurants serving everything from ‘cue to cevape and some well-crafted cocktails to boot. Gothamist was honored to attend this culinary blowout thrown by New York to benefit City Harvest. One of the evening’s tastiest offerings was Insieme’s tortelli di zucca, or pumpkin filled pasta. We’d love to think that this judgment was based solely on the dish’s fall theme,... more ›

This week in New York life is like a box of chocolates – on steroids. (Mmmm, chocolate steroids.) The wicked masterminds behind the 10th annual International Chocolate Show decided that this year the usual three day, 40,000 square foot cocoa orgy just wasn’t going to cut it. So they’ve gotten a number of area restaurants to collectively boost the city’s blood sugar levels by declaring the next six days Chocolate Week. Some notable New York... more ›

This five-course wine dinner will feature nine top wines from Alsace, Austria and Germany paired with regional dishes such as Alsatian Onion Tart with Thinly Sliced House-Smoked Brisket and Raclette Fondue and Riesling-Marinated Poulet Rouge with Glazed Baby Turnips and Carrots Crispy Sauteed Spaetzle, and Riesling Jus. Doesn't that sound like fall to you? $125, tax and tip excluded. For reservations, call 212.874.7400. 7pm, Aix, 2398 Broadway at 88th Street. more ›

This weekend is the official kickoff of the first annual NYC Food Film Festival at Water Taxi Beach. This weekend features regional american burgers and asparagus, with Hamburger America (for those of you who missed our QBQ Burger Bash last year), Asparagus! A Stalk-Umentary, and more, including your chance to taste the famed green chile cheeseburger. Drool. You can find the full schedule here. more ›

We've all heard the old adage that there's nothing more dangerous in the kitchen than a dull knife. A sharp knife cuts cleanly through things. A dull knife forces you to use more pressure, then may bounce off the surface of the onion you're trying to slice and onto another surface, such as--for instance--your hand. Ouch! more ›

The 25 year old program was started by New York magazine restaurant critic Gael Greene, who also got James Beard involved, and Citymeals on Wheels supports agencies that provide "weekend, holiday, emergency and weekday meals to homebound elderly New Yorkers who can no longer shop or cook for themselves." Greene told NY1, "How can I as a restaurant critic, eating the way I eat, living the life I live, accept that there are people on my block who don't have enough to eat?"



You can donate to Citymeals on Wheels. (Earlier this week, the NY Times had a feature about Citymeals on Wheels.) NY1 also noted that 400 volunteers from God's Love We Deliver were working to bring holiday meals to men, women and children with HIV, AIDS, cancer and other illnesses - here's more information about GLWD.



And if you haven't gotten around to donating in some way, big or small, this season, don't worry, there are always opportunities. For instance, you can still donate a coat through NY Cares Coat Drive until December 31. City Harvest's canned food drive ends in mid-January. And here are some more ways to volunteer, via the city's volunteer website, Volunteer NYC.



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The phrase "soup kitchen" might not bring gourmet food to mind, but Michael Ennes, the chef at the Broadway Community soup kitchen, is looking to change that. Mr. Ennes cooks approximately 500 meals a week using "homemade stocks, oils without trans fats, organic peanut butter and local produce when he can get it," food from the Food Bank of New York City, and donations from City Harvest, some of which is collected from some of the city's finest restaurants. The Times profiles Mr. Ennes' work at the Broadway Community soup kitchen, where a sign reading "Four Star Soup Kitchen" is proudly displayed. more ›

In its 14th year, Canstruction, hailed as the most unique food drive in the world, challenges 42 top New York City architecture and design firms to turn donated cans into creations. On display through Wednesday, November 22nd at The New York Design Center (200 Lexington Avenue at 32nd), cans are meticulously stacked and color coordinated into creative designs. Where else can you pretend to play a Canned Piano, courtesy of ads Engineers? Take Cansportation designed by Guy Nordenson and Associates? Or see a CANphibian from STV in a new habitat (surrounded by chairs)? more ›

Time for a major sugar rush. Head over to the ninth annual Chocolate Show for chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate, with some culinary demonstrations and art thrown in for good measure. $25 tickets, for one day's admission, are available online (via Ticketmaster.com or calling 212-307-7171), and will also be on sale at the door (cash and checks only at the door). Metropolitan Pavillion & Altman Building, 125 West 18th Street. Friday, November 10: 11am to 9pm, Saturday, November 11: 10am to 8pm, Sunday, November 12: 10am to 7pm. Children under 5: Free; Children, 5 to 12: Free, but you're limited to 2 children per adult. Each additional child (5-12): $8. more ›