Westport Pride Presents First Annual Queer Cookoff
Press release: Three teams of chef-testants and five judges are being brought together to create a lively culinary competition to raise money for Westport Pride’s education programs. Designed to cook up local competition and foster valuable relationships in the community, Westport Pride’s “Queer Cook-Off” will pit members of the Fairfield County LGBTQ+ and ally community against one another in this fun competition. Held at Aitoro Appliance in Norwalk, Connecticut, each team will be placed in three of the showroom’s live kitchens. The competition, like the long-running Food Network cooking show “Chopped,” challenges its contestants to prepare an appetizer and entrée featuring items contained within a mystery box. The teams must use all of the items in their mystery box and incorporate the secret ingredient that will be revealed that night. Each team has 30 minutes to prepare their dishes and at the end of each round, each dish will be presented to a judging panel who will announce the winning team of the Queer Cook-Off.
“We are so excited to bring together the LGBTQ+ community and allies in a fun and unique way,” says Ria Rueda, Westport Pride Advisory Board member & Event Chairperson. “This is a great way to meet new people, cultivate relationships, and provide support for one another. Westport Pride fundraisers enable us to offer programs supporting the growing needs of our diverse community and ensure LGBTQ+ Westporters have a safe place to connect, heal, celebrate and thrive.”
Our celebrity chefs guiding their team are Bill Taibe (Chef/Owner of Don Memo, Kawa Ni, & The Whelk); Jes Bengtson (Executive Chef of Terrain Café and Amis Trattoria); and Arik Bensimon (Executive Chef of the Monogram Design Center).
Our panel of judges are: Brian McGunagle (Founder, Westport Pride); Tony Aitoro (CEO, Aitoro Appliance); Matt Storch (Chef/Owner of Match and Match Burger Lobster); and Dan Woog (Founder/Editor-In-Chief, 06880.
The event takes place on Thursday, May 19th at 6:00PM – 8:30PM at Aitoro Appliance in Norwalk, Connecticut. Guests are invited to observe the competition while enjoying a variety of catered hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased by visiting https://www.eventbrite.com/e/queer-cook-off-tickets-304249677977. For more information about Westport Pride, visit https://linktr.ee/Westportpride or join the community @westportpride on Facebook and Instagram.