Seth Elgar of No Coast Reserve , George Pavlopoulos of Topo’s 403 and Zach Selby of Feast Market and Café all competed in the eighth annual Bloomington Chefs’ Challenge at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater to benefit the Bloomington Community Kitchen.
Tim Clougher , assistant director of the Community Kitchen of Monroe County , said the Bloomington Chefs’ Challenge is the kitchen’s biggest fundraising event.
“Last year, we raised close to $20,000, and we’re hoping to surpass that this year. That, for us, translates into over 10,000 meals,” Clougher said.
All proceeds from the ticket sales and auction items go to feed the community’s hungry.
Clougher said aside from the main goal of the competition being to raise funds, it also serves to demonstrate to the community what goes on at the kitchen.
“It’s kind of a portrayal to some degree of what happens at the kitchen every day,” he said. “Our staff and volunteers put together a meal based on what we have, and so that’s a big part of why we do the event and why it fits so well with the kitchen and the work that we do.”
The kitchen received the competition food from a variety of sources, including produce from farmers at the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market and ?Bloomingfoods.
“Each year so far, we’ve been able to have more people in attendance and raised a little bit more money each year,” Clougher said. “We’re already in really good shape for this year to be another record year, so we’re looking forward to seeing how that goes.”
Mimi Attenoukon , an IU employee and 15-year Bloomington resident, said she’s amazed by the credibility and how resourceful the chefs were at the competition.
“We all share this love for cooking and food,” Attenoukon said. “I wanted to be with my friends, spend time with people with similar interests, and it’s for a good cause.”
