The second we heard about the FEED Supper Initiative, we immediately brought the Spoon University GW team together to plan and host the First Annual FEED Supper on GW’s campus!
FEED Supper brings local communities together to truly share a meal and donate meals to those in need. In hosting FEED Suppers, we come closer to our goal of donating 2 million meals by World Food Day.
Photo by Jamie Fink
On September 20, 2015, we brought the District’s food community and GW’s student body together to share a meal. We gathered in Square 80 to celebrate our shared love for food and support a worthy cause.
The event kicked off with a delicious luncheon catered by our local favorites: Luke’s Lobster, sweetgreen, &pizza, Carmine’s, Cava, and South Block Juice Co.
Luke’s Lobster gave us a taste of their famous shrimp rolls, served on a toasted, buttered New England style bun with a swipe of mayo, a sprinkle of lemon butter and a dash of spices.
Photo by Jamie Fink
SweetGreen treated us to their seasonal salads: peach and goat cheese with baby arugula, basil, toasted almonds, and balsamic vinaigrette. The refreshing watermelon feta salad came with shredded kale and organic arugula, heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, mint, spicy sunflower seeds and champagne vinaigrette.
Photo by Jamie Fink
We hit carb overload when we scarfed down a selection of gourmet pizzas from &pizza. Our favorite was the Kiss and Fire: spicy tomato, ricotta spread, Quattro Formaggi, local mushrooms, meatballs and finished off with some strawberry balsamic sauce.
Photo by Jamie Fink
Carmine’s definetly hit the spot with their delicious Penne a la Vodka and focaccia bread.
Photo by Jamie Fink
And Cava Grill brought a selection of dips along with pita chips, including their infamous Crazy Feta dip.
Photo by Jamie Fink
But lunch wasn’t complete without South Block Juice Co‘s Glow juice, featuring cold pressed pineapple, apple, fennel, aloe, lemon and mint.
Photo by Jamie Fink
Then we gathered together around the table, to meet new people, share stories, and hear from our guest speakers!
Photo by Jamie Fink
Photo by Jamie Fink
First up was Greg Menna, Co-Founder of District Doughnut who shared his incredible journey turning his passion into a reality. District Doughnut serves and delights customers with handcrafted donuts using the finest ingredients.
Menna strives to create a product that elevates the donut from just being something to bring into the office, but rather to make District Doughnut a destination to go to on Barracks Row, and so far he has been highly successful.
Photo courtesy of districtdoughnut.com
Menna’s passion for creating an excellent product, along with the hard work of pastry chef Christine Schaefer, has led their Dulce De Leche doughnut to become one of the best doughnuts in America, according to this Food and Wine article.
Photo by Rosie Hakim
Then, Tom McDougall, GW alum and Founder of 4P Foods discussed sustainability in the food system and how the 4Ps of Purpose, People, Planet, Profit can help create a just and equitable food system in the United States.
McDougall touched many of us by highlighting the problems with the way we eat, and how deeply rooted they are in our society. Through 4P Foods, he is making a difference in fixing our broken system. Spoon is so excited to see how far McDougall’s reach can grow, and we encourage everyone to sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture program in their area.
Photo by Rosie Hakim
Last, but not least, Suzanne Simon, founder of Chaia, shared her entrepreneurial journey of creating a local, vegetarian farm to table taco. After spending three years of selling her tacos at the farmer’s market and accumulating a staff of 20, Suzanne is excited to open the first Chaia store in Georgetown next month!
Photo by Rosie Hakim
Simon also discussed Chaia’s collaboration with FEED Supper in creating the FEED Taco, which highlights the cultural and nutritional significance of corn in the Americas. The FEED Taco contains sweet corn from nearby Delaware, sweet sungold tomatoes, salsa verde and spicy pepper jack. Proceeds from each sweet corn taco contribute to the FEED Supper Initiative!
We finished it off with a dessert reception catered by District Doughnut, featuring their famous Dulce De Leche and Brown Butter doughnuts. We also had a special giveaway, which included a delicious Toffee covered pretzel from Fatty Sundays, and Chaia gift cards!
Photo by Jamie Fink
We had an amazing time planning and hosting the event and would like to give a special thank you to all our sponsors and participants who helped make it a success!
We encourage you to throw a FEED Supper, amongst friends and family, to raise awareness for world hunger and appreciate a privilege we often take for granted. To learn more about the FEED Supper Initiative click here: http://www.feedprojects.com/aboutsupper
Watch out for our next FEED Supper happening next year- it’s going to be even bigger and better!
Photo by Rosie Hakim