So after a long day, I thought I would take the time to share how I am giving back to the community by using my culinary talent and food.
As a chef, I feel I not only have a job to feed hungry customers but to also educate the community on better eating, food waste, and how supporting local farmers and using local products is better than just going to the grocery store and buying whatever is on sale.
Right now, my fellow colleagues and myself are working on a project to raise money for charity.
Our project is going to be a calendar featuring workers in the food industry - from line cooks to chefs, from servers to bartenders - all wearing outfits created completely out of bacon. Yes, outfits created of bacon (from full on outfits to bikinis). The reason we are doing this is, well yes, to be different, have a good laugh, but also because bacon is trending right now, with everything from bacon events, bacon gum, even bacon YouTube shows such as "Epicmealtime." All money raised from this calendar will be donated to charity.
Once this calendar is released, we are also going to be holding "pop up dinners" in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and of course, I will hold one in Oxford. These dinners will have elegant food using simple local products, but each one will have a theme, which the dishes will be based on.
Now to anyone who is vegan, vegetarian, or supports animal rights: We are not going to use mass products bacon for this calendar. Actually ALL products we use come directly from the farm. As a chef, I want to give my customers the best product I can. So I make sure the farms I buy from treat the animals with care and put as much passion into their work as I do into my food.
- Joseph Bonovia Jr., an Oxford, CT, native, is executive chef and CEO of Audentia Catering.
