Boston-based chefs Ken Oringer and Ming Tsai have raised more than $400,000 for an aid organization helping people amid the war between Russia and Ukraine. The funds from their sold-out Sunday dinner will benefit World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit founded by chef José Andrés, which provides meals to communities across the globe in the wake of disaster.
The organization started providing meals to evacuees within a day of Russia's invasion, and now serves food at eight border crossing locations. Andrés recently announced that World Central Kitchen will be bringing meals to northern Ukrainian towns in the wake of Russian retreats.
"Literally, he has fed millions and millions of people already on the borders," Tsai said on Boston Public Radio.
Tsai and Andrés were together at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival when news broke of the invasion. Andrés left the event early to fly to Poland. While Tsai and Oringer are remaining in the United States, they both view humanitarian work as central to their jobs. In 2013, the pair helped raise $1 million following the Boston Marathon bombing.
“Food, it opens every door,” said Tsai, a James Beard and Emmy award–winning chef who founded the food company MingsBings. “When there's a crisis, when there's something that needs to happen, chefs always step up.”
Longtime friend and fellow James Beard Award–winning chef Oringer agreed.
“It's in our DNA,” said Oringer, a partner behind restaurants Uni, Toro, Coppa and Little Donkey. “As a chef, that's what draws us from a young age for both of us, and it's just our way of taking care of people.”
Oringer explained how World Central Kitchen not only brings resources, but also partners with local chefs to provide meals.
“Between volunteers from all over the world, plus probably every chef in Poland, Ukraine ... he [Andrés] can get groups and groups and groups to work together,” he said.
In addition to the food, Sunday’s dinner fundraiser, which cost $5,000 per seat, will also include speakers talking about the crisis in Ukraine.
“We're chefs, we love cooking great food,” Oringer said. “But this is one of the few dinners that we've done where it's not about the food. It's more about the message.”
