This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Hetty Crist

Hetty Crist

Deputy Press Secretary

Part of UK in USA

25th October 2013 Washington DC, USA

Souper Man – My Day at the Empty Bowls Fundraiser

The following is a guest post by Craig Harnden, Head Chef, British Embassy. 

Earlier this week , I had the opportunity to represent the British Embassy at the Capital Area Food Bank’s 6th Annual ‘Empty Bowls’ fundraiser for hunger relief in the Washington area.

Chef Craig serves oxtail soup at the Empty Bowls event for hunger relief.
Chef Craig serves oxtail soup at the Empty Bowls event for hunger relief.

Empty Bowls is a unique event that brings local restaurants, and in our case, an Embassy, together to donate and serve up a signature soup and bread. More than 400 guests came along yesterday and for a donation of $25, were able to sample the area’s best soups.

I was eager to participate when I learned about the Empty Bowls event. As much as it is a huge privilege to be able to cook at the Embassy, it is as important to give back to and be a part of the wider Washington community. Seeing that many people take a break from their daily routine to give back to the DC community was inspiring and heartwarming.

I cooked and served a traditional British Oxtail soup (you can check out the recipe here.) Here in Washington, my focus is to use ethically-grown produce from local farmers markets when possible, as well as to incorporate some of the great produce that the United Kingdom are very successfully exporting.

The UK food and drink industry is growing immensely. Last year, total food and non-alcoholic drink exports stood at £12.1 billion worldwide. The United States is one of the top 10 destinations for these exports, and people all over the country enjoy British food and drink products regularly.

More than 680,000 people in the Washington area are at risk of hunger, and I hope that Empty Bowls and the fantastic work that Capital Area Food Bank are doing has done its bit to bring light to this situation. This year alone, CAFB has provided 27.5 million meals to residents struggling with hunger. I was honoured to be a part of the day.

You can visit www.capitalareafoodbank.org to donate or volunteer.

About Hetty Crist

Hetty Crist served as the Deputy Press Secretary at the British Embassy in Washington. Educated at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (the same as Jonny Ive!) Hetty has worked…

Hetty Crist served as the Deputy Press Secretary at the British Embassy in Washington. Educated at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (the same as Jonny Ive!) Hetty has worked in a range of communications roles in both the public and private sector at companies including Microsoft, The Institute of Directors and The National Autistic Society. She joined the British Embassy in July 2010 having previously worked for seven years in government communications roles in London at both The Department of Health and The Foreign Office. In Washington Hetty was responsible for communications work around the UK Economy and the Eurozone, Energy, Trade, and UK domestic, legal and judicial issues as well as Consular and Corporate issues. Her work also included highlighting all that the UK has to offer through the cross-government GREAT Campaign and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Capital Area Food Bank Empty Bowls Exports Food and Drink Food is GREAT uk