A Culinary Idea

I have lots and lots of ideas, I rarely write them down. This one has been gnawing on my brain for a while...

     I've been watching a lot of cooking shows lately. A better thing to say is that they're on in the background quite frequently. While 'watching' those, I get little ideas here and there. Today I made Bacon Ice Cream, but that's a different story... The final piece of the puzzle was fit in today for my idea. Guy Fieri did a special DDD on Worth Our Weight, an apprentice program for people who have faced major challenges in their lives. They do not pay for tuition and come out of the program with culinary and restaurant management training.

     Then there's Chuck's Day Off, where the chef prepares food for a wide variety of people who 'work' for his restaurant. Be it staff, suppliers, or just friends. It's a cool idea to bring people together for a meal who ordinarily would not eat together.

     And of course, Chopped with their secret ingredients, and Iron Chef with the theme ingredient.

     Now, in my mind, I've put them ALL together. Everyone into the pool as they say...

     My idea is NOT a cooking show. In fact, it would be seen as a community service. The idea: a soup kitchen for the homeless, staffed by the less fortunate.

     What I would envision is something like Worth Our Weight, taking in the underprivileged, those who have had difficulties, and those who simply cannot afford a proper culinary school; and giving them a place to learn and thrive. These people would be supplemented with either volunteer grad students OR chefs from around the city, kind of like a mentorship program That's where Chuck's Day Off comes in, chefs who are not working would have the ability to come in and 'teach', or simply cook meals in a different venue, while others gleaned info of what they were doing.

     Chopped and Iron Chef give me the idea of essentially NOT buying many products. IE, ingredients are given to you, and you make do with what you have. Obviously some things will need to be bought, but with the number of grocery stores, the Food Terminal and various Farmers Markets, more than enough food is ditched on a daily basis to make at least one restaurant work.

     I have two trains of thought on this. One is simply for the homeless. The other is a little more complex and has regular customers coming into the kitchen and paying for their food, which then in turn subsidizes the feeding of the homeless.

    I'm not in any sort of position to make any of this happen, but if any of YOU are, feel free to take this idea and run with it!