Charity dining week a collaborative effort

WANAKA chef Lucas Parkinson, of Ode restaurant, hopes to raise $10,000 for two charities from five Dine by Donation events the restaurant is hosting next month.

Mr Parkinson will host five chefs from around the region in a week of menu collaborations from June 4 to June 8, where the entire proceeds from all food served in the restaurant will go to the two charities, Garden to Table and Everybody Eats.

The week of events comes off the back of a successful Dine by Donation hosted by Mr Parkinson earlier this year, which raised nearly $4500 for local youth trust Kahu Youth in one night.

Mr Parkinson said the chari ties this time were chosen because they hit the issue of child impoverishment and hunger ‘‘at the root’’.

Garden to Table teaches primaryschool children how to grow and use their own food, while Everybody Eats uses food that would have gone to waste to feed New Zealand’s hungry and impoverished.

Mr Parkinson said the chefs he was collaborating with were ‘‘really inspired’’ by the idea of Dine by Donation and he was looking forward to the event.

‘‘I love doing collaborations because as a chef you get to learn again, and it’s for such a great cause as well.’’

‘‘The end goal is for every New Zealand restaurant to do a Dine by Donation once a year.’’

❛ I love doing collaborations because as a chef you get to

learn again

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