Taste of the Nation sets fundraising record in fight to end childhood hunger

When Bill Shore and his wife Debbie founded Share Our Strength in 1984, they knew success would hinge on their steadfast belief that everyone is capable of making a difference in the fight to end childhood hunger. 

Twenty-five years later, people around the nation continue to reaffirm that belief—including the 1,000 guests gathered on the lawn of Strawbery Banke Museum on the evening of June 24. The 15th annual Taste of the Nation Portsmouth raised more than $115,000 for the fight against hunger, a new record.

Chefs from 50-plus local restaurants prepared their finest delicacies, and 25 area brewers and wineries offered beverages. Diners assembled under a gigantic white tent and navigated rows of tables serving everything from Jumpin’ Jay’s raw oysters to The Press Room’s lobster stew to Fresh Local’s hotdog sliders. When everyone was sated, guests hit the dance floor and grooved to live music from Boston’s Soul City.

The event in Portsmouth was one of 40 Taste of the Nation galas held around the nation this spring and summer. Bill Shore, still executive director of Share Our Strength, was on hand as the evening got underway around 6:00 p.m. Although Portsmouth is smaller than most other host cities, it is one of the most successful, he said.

“This will be one of our top 10 events in the world,” Shore said. “It’s a great statement about the community.”

Share Our Strength Seacoast has raised more than $800,000 at Taste of the Nation dinners over the last 15 years. Michael Landgarten, owner of Bob’s Clam Hut and Robert’s Maine Grill, founded the Seacoast chapter of Share Our Strength in 1994. The Seacoast held its first ever Taste of the Nation that year at Barnstormers Restaurant at Pease Tradeport. The inaugural event included 24 restaurants and 150 attendees, and it has grown each year since.

The 2009 event sold out in record time, with $75 tickets selling out two weeks ahead of the event, and $150 VIP passes following soon after. All proceeds will go to local and national organizations that work to end childhood hunger.

“Without a doubt, the interest and awareness grows leaps and bounds year to year,” said Scott Logan, co-chair of Share Our Strength Seacoast and owner of The Blue Mermaid.

Logan said awareness is especially high this year, as the troubled economy makes hunger personal for more and more people. The issue is not exclusive to third world countries, but affects numerous children in local communities. One in six area households are “food insecure,” Logan said, meaning the children do not get the nutritional food content they need.

According to Share Our Strength, 12.4 million children in the United States are at risk of hunger, and the number is rising. The problem is even more acute during the summer months, when school lunch programs are terminated. According to the N.H. Food Bank, almost 45,000 New Hampshire students depend on their school lunch programs for nutritious meals, and only 14 percent of them will continue to be fed by public programs during the summer.

The concept behind Taste of the Nation is getting the food industry engaged in the solution. “The idea originally was to think of chefs and restaurateurs as people who would feel connected to the issue of hunger,” said Bill Shore.

Share Our Strength has raised $245 million toward combating childhood hunger, and much of that has come from Taste of the Nation events held around the country since 1988. On the Seacoast, dozens of restaurants have latched on to the cause.

“We live in a unique community that is incredibly supportive of one another and this cause in particular,” Logan said.

The Smuttynose Brewery has participated in Taste of the Nation every year since 1994. Owner Peter Egelston is a board member of Share Our Strength Seacoast. Kevin Love, vice president of sales and marketing at Smuttynose, said area breweries that are normally competitive work together at Taste of the Nation. “Today we’re all under one roof and we’re all civil and we all love each other,” he said.

Smuttynose brought six logs of beer to the event, the equivalent of two full kegs, and Love expected to go through all of it. He said the event gets bigger every year and, space permitting, could accommodate even more people. “We could make a bigger tent and we’d still fill it,” he said.

Tulsi Indian Restaurant, which opened last summer in Kittery, Maine, participated in Taste of the Nation for the first time. Owner Janet Howe and head chef Rajesh Mandekar served delectable vegetable curry puffs, shrimp balchao and small cups of mango lassi. The shrimp was a bit spicy, but there was a remedy. “Take a little sip of the mango lassi and it cools you right down,” Howe said.
Tulsi got involved in Taste of the Nation with urging from Anneke Jans and other establishments in downtown Kittery. Howe said it felt good to celebrate a supportive restaurant community. “This is really something. We’re really glad to see so many towns represented,” she said.

This year’s Taste also featured eight area farmers and food producers who joined chefs to serve meal samples with fresh, local ingredients, bringing attention to the process that puts food on tables. The event was “trash-free,” using only biodegradable and recyclable products.

Seventy percent of the proceeds from Taste of the Nation go to local grant recipients (Footprints Food Pantry, The Seacoast Family Food Pantry, Rockingham Community Action’s WIC, Strafford County Community Action, and the New Hampshire Center for a Food Secure Future). Another 10 percent goes to the Children’s Alliance in Concord, while the remaining 20 percent goes toward national and international efforts.

The crowd was thick enough to make navigation difficult under the tent, and people remained long after the sun went down to dance and dine. “It is the best party in Portsmouth of the year,” Logan said.