Mouthing Off

It's not every day that Mario Batali hands out a Golden Pie Service Award. In fact, he'd never given one out before Sunday night, when he handed one to President Bill Clinton. Clinton was the star of an astonishing crowd that came out to support the Mario Batali Foundation, which works to keep kids well fed, well read and well cared for. Read more >

Here at F&W we’re crazy about the amazing food that our chef heroes make every single day, but we’re even more excited when they’re passionate about passing the torch on to the next generation of culinary leaders. Legendary chef John Besh has set out on a new mission: diversifying the chef community of New Orleans, enlisting native sons and daughters to preserve the city's venerable culinary traditions.

Read more >

Among the superstars in Food & Wine's Chefs Make Change coalition, Mario Batali is making power moves to raise funds for his charity this summer. The Mario Batali Foundation, which helps feed, protect and educate children, just announced two celebrity-studded events starring Bill Clinton. The former president will headline an inaugural MBF Honors dinner in New York on September 9 at Batali's fine-dining flagship Del Posto Ristorante, where guests will include Jimmy Fallon (tickets $1,500 and over).

On September 10, Clinton, the chef, and his creative friends will play golf at the third annual MBF Swing Session Celebrity Golf Classic (see: Batali with U2 guitarist The Edge at last year's event, left). The all-day outing features a chartered boat ride from Manhattan to Liberty National Golf Club across the Hudson, a clinic with PGA player Hunter Mahan and food from Marea's Michael White and Del Posto chef Mark Ladner. Slots start at $3,000 ($10k for a foursome). Club Hill Media produced a video tease if you want a closer look at how these blockbuster events are done.

Tickets: MBF Honors Dinner
3rd Annual Swing Session Celebrity Golf Classic, Liberty National Golf Club, NJ

© David Gallent / Jeneée Taylor

As one of the extraordinary members of F&W’s Chefs Make Change coalition, New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse helps at-risk young people through his Emeril Lagasse Foundation. One of Lagasse’s favorite partnerships is with the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), where he recently challenged culinary students to create a recipe with regional flavors for his “Dish That Makes a Difference” contest. This year’s winner is Janeé Taylor, an 18-year-old NOCCA graduate currently enrolled as a freshman at Johnson & Wales University. Her “Louisiana Surf and Turf” made with grilled rib eye, seafood mashed potatoes and Cajun asparagus will be featured on the menu at Lagasse’s restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas and Orlando throughout the month. Raising awareness for the programs, $5 from every dish will be donated back to the Emeril Lagasse Foundation. Here, Taylor talks about inspiration and plans for the future >

By now you must know that F&W loves when chefs work to change the world through charity programs. We also happen to love Mario Batali. And sandwiches. Add that all up, and here’s what you’ve got: Batali creating a limited-edition sandwich for charity at the excellent Cambodian sandwich shop Num Pang in Manhattan’s East Village. It’s the inaugural sandwich for Num Pang’s Guest Chefs Give Back. The program was created by Num Pang owners Ben Daitz and Ratha Chaupoly; look for new big-name cooks and their sandwiches in the coming month.
 
First up, the Batali Pang. It’s an awesome combo of Brooklyn-made cotecchino sausage, balsamic pickled onions and sheep’s milk cheese, mixed with more traditional Num Pang ingredients (homemade chili mayo, pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro), served on a toasted semolina baguette. On sale from February 15-March 15, it’s going for $9.75; proceeds will be split between The Food Bank for New York City (one of my personal favorites) and The Cambodian Children’s Fund.
 
For more details and a cute pic of the principal players, go to Midtownlunch.com.

While Food & Wine is busy helping phenomenal chefs like Mario Batali and Rick Bayless make change and save the world, some other notable people are doing their part, too. Leonardo DiCaprio is partnering with outstanding coffee producer La Colombe Torrefaction to create a special blend called Lyon. All net profits will go to environmental projects supported by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. (The foundation works with, among others, the National Resource Defense Council and the World Wildlife Fund on one of my favorite initiatives, SaveTigersNow.org). "Leonardo has an acute understanding of the challenges we all face," says Todd Carmichael, Torrecfaction's co-founder. "Particularly those people in the developing world, which incidentally, are also coffee growing countries."
 
And here’s more on Lyon coffee. It’s a blend of, no surprise, sustainably raised beans from Haiti, Peru, Ethiopia and Brazil. It’s available at Williams-Sonoma and select Whole Foods, plus at La Colombe cafés. You won’t see DiCpario acting as barista at La Colombe any time soon, unfortunately; he’s in Australia filming The Great Gatsby.

Please join Food & Wine's Chefs Make Change coalition today from 3 to 4 p.m. ET for a Twitter party. Tweet live with 10 superstarchefs who are working to make the world a better place.

How does it work?
• Log in to Twitter any time from 3 to 4p.m. ET and follow the hosts: Food & Wine @fandw and Editor-in-Chief Dana Cowin @fwscout.
• Use the hashtag #ChefsMakeChange at the end of tweets to participate in the party.
• Tweet all of your questions about Chefs Make Change, the chefs’ wonderful individual causes and how you can help make change in your own community.

Or just follow along by clicking #ChefsMakeChange.

Here’s the panel of ambitious chefs and organizations:

José Andrés - @chefjoseandres
World Central Kitchen - @WCKitchen

Dan Barber - @bluehillfarm
Stone Barns Center - @StoneBarns

Mario Batali - @Mariobatali
Mario Batali Foundation - @MarioBatali_MBF

Rick Bayless - @Rick_Bayless

Cat Cora - @catcora

Emeril Lagasse - @Emeril

Michel Nischan - @michelnischan
Wholesome Wave - @wholesomewave

Art Smith - @chefartsmith
Common Threads - @Common_Threads

Bill Telepan - @billtelepan
Wellness in the Schools - @WITSinSchools

Alice Waters - @AliceWaters
Edible Schoolyard - @edibleschoolyrd

On Thursday, February 2, Good Morning America will host Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse for a fierce cook-off to raise money for their charities, featured in Food & Wine’s Chefs Make Change coalition. Before the superstars go head-to-head, GMA wants Facebook fans to vote on the main ingredient, which could very well end up as bacon. This is not Batali’s first drastic measure to draw attention to the Mario Batali Foundation—if you donate to his cause before February 7, the world will be one step closer to a red-ponytail-free Batali. That also means there’s a lot riding on Lagasse to drive funds to the Emeril Lagasse Foundation. The charities both help underprivileged kids. Show love to your favorite chef by donating now for BATALI vs. LAGASSE.

Learn more about Chefs Make Change

Mario Batali, one of the 10 superstar chefs committed to F&W’s Chefs Make Change coalition, chatted with co-hosts on The Chew last week about his pledge to cut off his famous red ponytail if The Mario Batali Foundation can raise $500,000 by February 7. The new online clip also reveals what Batali won't give up, so donate to Chefs Make Change for a rare chance to see this chef change his ways. Batali's program helps feed, educate and inspire kids. One new program is the Community CookShop, which teaches families how to cook with ingredients found in food pantries. Inspired by food-bank staples, Batali created this tangy Italian take on sweet-and-sour chicken for a delicious home-cooked meal.

Related: More Recipes from Mario Batali
Healthy Italian Dishes
Pantry Ingredient Essentials

Emeril Lagasse is a busy man. Along with his restaurant empire, his multitude of cookbooks and his TV spots—he’s a regular judge on this season’s Top Chef—the New Orleans–based chef runs his own charity for underprivileged kids. One recent success of the Emeril Lagasse Foundation is a culinary arts program for New Orleans high-school students. The foundation is also setting up a community farm in New Orleans. One possible crop: radishes. “Radishes grow just about anywhere,”Lagasse says in our February issue. “People think, ‘Oh it’s just a radish.’ But radishes are delicious, and people don’t think of cooking them.” For a quick and versatile side dish, Lagasse sautés radishes and their greens with tangy orange butter and crispy bacon. You can help the Emeril Lagasse Foundation and other inspiring chef-run organizations featured in Chefs Make Change by visiting foodandwine.com/donate.

Related: More Recipes from Emeril Lagasse
Delicious Radish Recipes
Quick and Tasty Side Dishes