national hunger awareness day

Coinciding with National Hunger Awareness day, Epicurious (the website for Bon Appetit & Gourmet magazines) hosted five charity dinners in five different cities. I was lucky enough to get an invitation to the San Francisco dinner at Farallon restaurant Friday night. All of the money raised from the event went to an amazing organization, America's Second Harvest, a food bank network that provides food to low income people in the United States. Oftentimes the fact that there are more than 9 million hungry children here in our country gets overlooked, so it was wonderful to be a part of such an important charity event. The coolest thing about wine.dine.donate is that even if you can't attend the big city event, you can hold a dinner party at your home to support the cause. I'm thinking about turning my next dinner party into a soirée that benefits the cause, but until then I'll be dreaming about the delectable dishes I ate the other night. The dinner was absolutely delicious, the deconstructed fried soft shell crab BLT, the fresh oysters, and the crispy veal breast with soft boiled egg and polenta were my favorite dishes. Just writing it makes my mouth water!

To take a look at an entire gallery of the event, including the sweet rhubarb empanada dessert created by Emily Luchetti, read more

It is true that I write a lot about food here on FitSugar. Things like how to snack responsibly and avoid eating mindlessly. Today however, I wanted to take a moment to focus on the other side of this issue, hunger. Today is National Hunger Awareness Day and the organization America's Second Harvest, the nation's food bank network, is hoping to raise awareness of hunger in America. The theme this year is "The face of hunger will surprise you." Their goal is to bring attention to the growing number of struggling low-income Americans who are often forced to choose between paying for utilities, medicine, gasoline or putting food on the table.

Second Harvest has rounded up some celebrities for their Goin’ Home for Hunger” program. Actors and musicians will be volunteering at the food banks in their hometowns, in hopes to build up support for Second Harvest's effort. So volunteer, and you may rub elbows with Ben Affleck or Nick Lachey while they lend a hand to feed America's hungry.

If you are interesting in participating in today's events - check out this activities calendar (organized by city and state), to find an event in your area. Or you can find your local food bank and make a contribution. Many cities have created Dine Out Against Hunger where participating restaurants are donating Hunger Day proceeds to hunger relief.

There are many ways to participate; I sure do hope we all do what we can.