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    Best Women Chefs of Columbus Unite to Raise Funds for YWCA Commercial Kitchen

    On a quiet Sunday Night, German Village was abuzz with lively activity.

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    kitchen-03The top chefs in the city convened in the candlelit space of The Kitchen, German Village’s participatory dining venue, to raise funds for the YWCA’s Believe in Women Campaign – specifically, the addition of a commercial kitchen education space for residents.

    Turning Up The Heat, a dinner with Columbus’ best women chefs, filled The Kitchen’s boisterous open room. Hand-crafted appetizers whizzed past on platters carried not by waiters, but by the chefs themselves. Alana Shock of Alana’s Food and Wine, decked in a jaunty black Derby hat, offered porcelain trays of mini meat pies, while Catie Randazzo of Challah Food Truck served up Korean-style BBQ oysters nestled in mounds of sea salt.

    The $20 million renovation of the YWCA’s historic Griswold Memorial Building will include: a facelift of residence apartment units; new offices; transformation of the pool to a ballroom; and the addition of social enterprise opportunities – a coworking space and professional commercial kitchen. The YWCA gives women the support and tools to learn self-sufficiency, and how to live independently.

    “It will be a flexible incubator space, and most importantly a professional kitchen,” said YWCA President Elfi Di Bella. “As part of that operation, the Columbus State Community College’s hospitality program will have the opportunity to work with our women residents – not only to teach them how to eat healthily, but to give them the opportunity to learn job skills, which are so critical to our women.”

    kitchen-09The new kitchen will be an integral part of their women’s residency program, which provides affordable community housing and services for women in transition – frequently battling homelessness, abuse, or mental illness, among others. The kitchen will serve as a place where resident can learn how to eat and prepare food healthily, as well as provide an entrepreneurial space for female innovators.

    “We’re building and supporting this community, along with women chefs in the community,” said Natalie Bidinger, Executive Chef of The Pearl, speaking between courses.

    Large black and white portraits of past and present YWCA residents, coupled with sobering statements of their personal journeys, provided a powerful presence that showcased the resilience of Columbus’s female community. Items donated by chefs and women-focused Columbus businesses were auctioned to raise additional funds for the new kitchen.

    Participating chefs included Laura Lee of Ajumama, Cara Mangini and Amber Herron of Little Eater, Angela Petro of Sweet Carrot, Dara Schwarz of Darista Cafe, Sangeeta Lakhani of The Table, Brooke Kinsey of Bleu and Fig, and Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s, among dozens more. Organizers included Bethia Woolf and Debra O’Molesky of Columbus Food Adventures, and Anne Boninsegna and Jen Lindsey of The Kitchen.

    All photos by Rebecca Wagner.

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    Rebecca Wagner
    Rebecca Wagnerhttps://columbusunderground.com
    Rebecca Wagner is a former staff writer at Columbus Underground who reported on local food and restaurant news. She's a graduate of Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
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