Businesses and influencers in Staffordshire are being invited to a unique event to launch a vision of community kindness using fine dining to share skills and beat poverty.
It’s the brainchild of Stoke-based chef Cris Cohen, whose Potteries-based food chef’s table is drawing rave reviews from diners from all over the UK.
Cris and his team use fine dining experiences to help young people, who might be struggling with numerous challenges, gain the skills and confidence they need to work in the fast-moving world of hospitality.
The event’s called Opposites Attract, and it takes place at the North Staffordshire Medical Institute, Hartshill on April 25, from 7pm.
It is sponsored by business big-hitters KMF and The Hubb Foundation and tickets are available here.
Champagne and canapés will welcome guests who will then hear about a powerful new vision: how fine dining and poverty can be inextricably linked to make a difference and help those people who need it most. Organisers also offer a few surprises during the evening.
Cris said: “They say opposites attract… and in my world gastronomy and food poverty sit quite comfortably together. There is no need for them to be polarised and in fact the need is for them to sit side by side.
“Cooking and especially fine dining can be a wasteful process. The future for chefs does not lie purely in the kitchen, especially for those with ambition to create rapid change in our community.
“At this event we and some serious, like-minded partners will share our vision. We’ll show how this formula is working here in our city of kindness. We’ll show kindness can be scaled to reduce poverty’s influence.
“And we’ll feed all our guests with some tasty, and inspirational, dishes… all made, with love, in Stoke-on-Trent.”
• The FEASTED chef’s table sees Cris and his team serve 11 courses of exclusive dishes made with locally-sourced ingredients… and each tells a story of Stoke-on-Trent, from the tale of Burslem-witch Molly Leigh to the haunts of Neck End, and everywhere in between.
Seats are booked weeks in advance and a place at the FEASTED chef’s table has become the hottest dining ticket in town.
Cris explained: “Sharing these stories connects us and helps us forge the future of our humble city, to be a city of greatness where extraordinary food is placed on the very plates that first put our city on the map.”
• Diners can book seats at the chef’s table here.
