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.
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.