BALTIMORE — A friendly cooking competition, a BBQ master and delicious food, all under one roof.
PLATED is back at the B&O Railroad Museum on April 16, a fundraiser to benefit the Franciscan Center of Baltimore.
The center works with those in need in Baltimore to provide hot meals, responsive services like eviction prevention and identification procurement and nutrition and healthcare assistance. It also runs Dignity Plates, a free, 13-week culinary training program.
Three graduates from Dignity Plates will compete in a Top Chef-style competition to win cash prizes. They will have about 45 minutes to prepare a dish and present it to a panel of judges.
"PLATED is just a wonderful way that we can explain to the world what what we do at the Franciscan Center" said Jeff Griffin, the executive director. "We make it so that you will leave knowing what our culinary students are doing, what our social workers do, and it's just a way to just celebrate the fact that good people are doing good things."
Dignity Plates accepts 12 students for each cohort and Griffin said the need is great. There were 160 applicants for the upcoming cohort.
"We teach them everything, what it means to work in a commercial kitchen versus a home kitchen and help them with the skills they're going to need to start a career in the hospitality industry," said Griffin. "But also teach them how to run their finances so that when they do earn more money, they know how to save and and where to spend."
This year's keynote speaker, and one of the judges, at PLATED is Chef Rodney Scott, an award-winning BBQ master from Charleston South Carolina.
There is also an online raffle, including a 3-day trip to Charleston and a dining experience at Scott's flagship restaurant Whole Hog BBQ House. You do not need to be present at PLATED to win.
