A cast of culinary standouts, including Bobby Flay, prepared a special dinner to support the James Beard Foundation and honor the Taste of the NFL at the historic James Beard House on Saturday, Nov. 19. In addition to Flay, who is a Taste of the NFL board member, other chefs “in the house” included Stephan Lewandowski of Tribeca Grill in New York City, Jack McDavid of Jack’s Firehouse in Philadelphia and Pastry Chef Stephane Motir also of Tribeca Grill in New York City.

"It's always fun to work together with these great chefs, particularly at the renowned kitchen of the James Beard House," said Taste of the NFL Chef Director Mark Haugen. "Their dedication to hunger relief for families in need makes all of this happen."

The dinner took place on the eve of the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles matchup at the Meadowlands with each team’s Taste of the NFL chefs representing their teams for a night of charity, football and food. Chef Lewandowski is the New York Giants chef representative, and Chef McDavid has been the Taste of the NFL chef representative for the Philadelphia Eagles since 1992. This is the second year in a row that Taste of the NFL has had an event at the James Beard House which is located in the former townhouse of celebrated cookbook author & television personality James Beard and hosts a limited number of monthly events to showcase culinary artists from around the world.

Members of NBC Sports, a longtime supporter of Taste of the NFL, stopped by to join the chefs in the kitchen and the guests in the dining room, including Bob Costas, Al Michaels and Michele Tafoya who is a Taste of the NFL board member.

“I think we did a good job of staying out of everyone's way so that these chefs could work their magic,” said Tafoya.

"It's best to leave the cooking to these professionals, and I am sure each chef agreed, so we did just observe and report; that's what we do best," added Costas. "And also taste, of course!"

Michaels thanked the guests for their support of hunger relief in his comments before dinner was served, and encouraged everyone to find ways to continue to help others beyond the night's dinner event. Another member of the NBC team, Tony Dungy, is the Honorary Chair for Taste of the NFL this year.

Photo credit: Eileen Miller

The Minnesota Vikings held their annual Taste of the Vikings on Monday, Nov.7th at Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America.  Guests were treated to tasty samples from some of the Twin Cities' best restaurants and the opportunity to mingle with current and former Vikings players.

The event raised funds for the Vikings Children's Fund Summer Lunch Program in partnership with Second Harvest Heartland.  During the school year, approximately 300,000 Minnesota children receive free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs. But when the 

school year ends for the summer, only about 20% of these kids continue to receive low-cost or free nutritious meals. The Vikings Children's Fund Summer Lunch Program helped support more than 1 million meals for hungry kids in the summer of 2011. 

View more pictures of the event.

(Photo credits to Scott Bertsch and Gameday Gold)

Gameday Gold's Eric Nelson interviews Taste of the NFL founder Wayne Kostroski.  They talk about next February's Taste of the NFL event at Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, and the Kick Hunger Challenge. Please listen to the interview. 

The Super Bowl XLVI party season kicked off last week when organizers of one of its premier events came to town for some early celebrating.

Organizers of the 21-year-old Taste of the NFL -- an elegant Super Bowl-Eve strolling food and wine soiree scheduled Feb. 4 at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana -- attended parties at the JW Marriott (Saturday), Lucas Oil Stadium (Friday) and Westminster Community Center (Thursday). 

>> continue reading.

Taste of the NFL recently spent some time in Indianapolis to kick off local efforts to fight hunger in Indiana.

Gleaners Kids Café

Together with Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana and with help from Indianapolis Colts’ chef and player representatives, Taste of the NFL fed 50 children from low-income households a hot meal at Westminster Community Center on Sept. 22.  Chef Greg Hardesty (Recess and Room Four) prepared a tasty, nutritious menu and special guest appearances were made by former Indianapolis Colts’ tight end Ken Dilger along with Colts’ cheerleaders.   Tony Hanslits, Taste of the NFL chef alum and current dean of The Chef’s Academy, oversaw more than 20 Chef’s Academy students in food preparation and serving. A special thanks to the Chef’s Academy for donating the food as well.

Video recap of the event.

Clash of the Tailgaters

The Chef’s Academy, in collaboration with Taste of the NFL and E&J Gallo Winery, hosted its 3^rd annual Clash of the Tailgaters to benefit Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana on Sept. 23 in the parking lot of Lucas Oil Stadium.  The cooking competition pit teams of students and graduates of The Chef’s Academy against one another in serving up their tailgating specialties. Proceeds benefitted Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.

Watch video footage of the event on Indy Channel 6!

Gleaners Harvest Moon Gala

Several members of the Taste of the NFL family attended Gleaners 11^th Annual Harvest Moon Gala on Sept. 24 at the new JW Marriott in Downtown Indianapolis. In the past 10 years, this event has helped hungry Hoosiers by raising more than $2,280,000, which translates into more than 12 million meals. 

The 13th Annual Taste of the Browns was held Monday, September 12, 2011 at the Cleveland Browns Stadium to benefit the Cleveland Food Bank. 

Please click here to watch a video recap of the successful event!

You can view the photo gallery to see more pictures of fans, chefs and players having a great time.

If you missed the event, you can still support the Browns and the Cleveland Food Bank by donating to the Cleveland Browns Kick Hunger Challenge Team.

The Taste of the NFL, along with Greg Hardesty and his local culinary friends, team up to bring the Dinner Series to Indianapolis.

For the past 5 years, Indianapolis Chef Hardesty of Recess has represented the Colts at the national Taste event. With the big game coming to his hometown, he and a few of his Indy culinary friends have teamed up to create the second annual Taste of the NFL Dinner Series. This series of dinners will run throughout the 2011 NFL season and take place at a variety of restaurants in Indianapolis. Proceeds benefit the Gleaner's Food Bank.

The first of the three dinners will be held Sunday, Oct. 16 at Recess restaurant. The event will begin at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception, followed by a four-course dinner at 6:30 p.m. Joining chef Greg in the kitchen will be chef/owner Dave Tallent of Restaurant Tallent, executive chef Aaron Butts of Joseph Decuis and sous and pastry chef Abbi Merriss of Recess. Each course will be paired with a glass of wine provided by Gallo Wines. 

The second wine dinner in the series will be held on Sunday, Oct. 23 at Joseph Decuis. The third wine dinner will be held on Sunday, Nov. 6 at Restaurant Tallent.  Tickets are available for $120 per person per event (a portion of which are tax deductible). Reservations can be made through each individual restaurant.  Guests are welcomed to attend one or all of the events which are sponsored by  E&J Gallo.

Tickets to the upcoming Taste of the NFL “Party with a Purpose” taking place Saturday, Feb. 4 at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana will be available for purchase at all of the local dinners.   The annual strolling food and wine event pairs a chef from each NFL city serving their signature dish alongside a current or alumni NFL player from that city’s team.  The Indianapolis chefs participating in the Taste of the NFL Dinner Series will also have the opportunity to represent “The Flavors of Indy” at the February event.

In addition to the excitement of the unique location for this year’s event, Taste of the NFL leaders are proud to announce that Tony Dungy will serve as the effort’s National Honorary Chair. Dungy is beloved throughout the region - most notably as the head coach of the 2006-07 Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts. Since his retirement as coach in 2009, Dungy has served as an analyst on NBC’s Sunday Night Football pregame show, as well as authored several best-selling books in recent years.

 “I’ve admired the efforts of Taste of the NFL for many years and their relentless effort to kick hunger across our country,” says Dungy. “The significance of this year is monumental – more people than ever are relying on hunger relief organizations. Plus, to host this premier event within the walls of a food bank is sure to make a lasting impression on its guests.” “Tony is known nationally for his strengths and ethics off the field, just as much as for them on the field,” says Wayne Kostroski, founder of Taste of the NFL. “We admire his conviction for community giving and are proud to have him leading our team this year in the fight to end hunger.”

You can tune in to Michele Tafoya's Show on WCCO-AM Radio every Monday around 4:10 pm to hear from Tony Dungy, Taste of the NFL's 2011-12 Honorary Chair.

Listen to the August 22nd show now >>.

For those people who are unable to attend Super Bowl festivities in Indianapolis this year, Taste of the NFL offers other ways in which to support their hunger relief efforts. One of the easiest, most universal ways to get involved is through the Kick Hunger Challenge®. NFL fans (and non-fans alike!) are encouraged to support their favorite NFL team all year long by making a donation in that team's name.  Take the Kick Hunger Challenge® now.

Taste of the NFL, a non-profit organization dedicated to kicking hunger in America for more than 20years, will bring its annual fundraiser to Indianapolis on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012—the eve of Super Bowl XLVI. The strolling food and wine event, appropriately dubbed “The Party with a Purpose,®” will take place at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, the first time in history the event will be held at a food bank location.

Gleaners, one of the largest food banks in the U.S., was chosen as the site for this year’s event. For one evening, a portion of the food bank’s nearly 300,000 square-foot warehouse will be transformed to host the Taste of the NFL event—giving thousands of guests the opportunity to see firsthand the important role of a food bank within a community, while experiencing one of Super Bowl’s premier events.

“We’re proud to partner with the Taste of the NFL as the host of the event in Indianapolis,” said Cindy Hubert, President/CEO of Gleaners Food Bank. “It’s a unique opportunity to welcome guests to our facility and allow them to learn more about hunger in our community and beyond.”