I don’t know about you, but when I hear about culinary events that not only offer beautifully crafted foods but also help others, I am intrigued.  As a lover of long, lingering meals and great conversation I always keep an eye out for these types of events.

Even better is when I stumble across one such event that benefits one of my favorite organizations in Indiana: Second Helpings.  Each day, Second Helpings volunteers and staff rescue prepared and perishable food from wholesalers, retailers and restaurants  preventing unnecessary waste. That rescued food is used to create 3,500 hot, nutritious meals each day that are distributed to 70 social service agencies that feed people in need.

Host of Food Network  prime time show, “Health Inspectors” , Chef  Ben Vaughn is the host of this event at  The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Indianapolis to benefit Second Helpings . Vaughn will share an exclusive look inside his career as a culinary professional with the attendees on Thursday, August 29, 2013, at 6pm.

 The menu, developed by Vaughn, will include:

·         Amuse Bouche Tomato Salad, with Shortbread Cookie Croutons and Burton’s Maplewood Farm Gastrique

·         Maple Leaf Farms Duck Confit, Mushrooms  & Grits

·         Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast

·         Peach Cobbler, with Maple Leaf Farms Duck Rendered Caramel and Salted Duck Crackling

WHERE: The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Indianapolis, 3500 Depauw Blvd., Suite 1010,  Indianapolis, IN 46268. Phone: (317) 613-4800. The charity dinner will be held in the school’s student-run restaurant called Eleven at the Pyramids, a unique Indianapolis landmark.

To purchase tickets and to donate to Second Helpings, call 317-613-4853, 9am-5pm Monday-Friday.