Celebrity chefs coming to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend fundraiser

It’s a chef blitz. A flavor drive. And a playbook with a purpose: to feed hungry children.

Taste of the NFL, a fundraiser to tackle childhood hunger, returns to Super Bowl weekend in 2024, this time on Feb. 10 at the Keep Memory Alive Event Center in Las Vegas. Frito-Lay, Quaker and the PepsiCo Foundation are presenting the fundraiser.

The event features more than 25 celebrated chefs (national, regional, local) presenting game day dishes they’ve created; appearances by more than 30 NFL legends and the reigning Miss America, Madison Marsh; player autograph sessions; craft cocktails; live and silent auctions of sports memorabilia; and performances by Cirque du Soleil.

The event supports GENYOUth, the official charitable partner of Taste of the NFL. The nonprofit provides grants nationwide to increase access to healthy school meals. Net proceeds from Taste of the NFL benefit school nutrition programs and supply school meal equipment to high-need schools in Vegas, elsewhere in Nevada and other NFL markets.

“Eighty-one percent of children in the state of Nevada are eligible for free and reduced-priced meals because of their household income,” said Ann Marie Krautheim, CEO of GENYOUth. “These meals provide a significant portion of their daily nutrition. Long after the Super Bowl is over, this equipment will continue to be used.”

5 famous chefs are hosting

Five nationally celebrated chefs are hosting Taste of the NFL.

There is Carla Hall of “Top Chef,” “The Chew,” and the new “Chasing Flavor” debuting Feb. 1 on Max streaming; Andrew Zimmern, the Emmy Award winner and goodwill ambassador for the U.N. World Food Program; and pastry poobah and educator Lasheeda Perry, known as the “Queen of Flavor.”

Mark Bucher, a five-time World Burger Champion whose nonprofit feeds thousands monthly in Washington, D.C., and Tim Love, the national restaurateur and co-host of “Restaurant Startup,” join Hall, Zimmern and Perry.

Carla Hall’s croquettes

Hall has worked with GENYOUth for more than a decade. “I have a checklist before I get involved with an organization: kids, food security, women,” Hall said. “GENYOUth ticked all the boxes. I see how their work has impacted kids, how it has expanded.”

For the event, Hall is preparing Doritos croquettes stuffed with ham, cheddar, Gruyère and béchamel spiked with ground Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos. The croquettes, fried with a crisp coat of ground Sweet and Tangy Chili Doritos, are shaped in triangles to honor the chip.

“It’s very meta,” Hall said with a laugh. “Can I tell you how excited I was about that?”

Andrew Zimmern’s chili

Zimmern has participated in Taste of the NFL for more than 20 years. Along with his U.N. work, the chef is on the boards of several state and national nonprofits that address hunger. These commitments open onto what Zimmern called “an even bigger mission, which is actually change laws in America so it’s mandated that we feed people.

“I ask politicians all the time: Are you for or against hungry children? Why am I so focused on children? Because they’re victims and innocents.”

This year at Taste of the NFL, Zimmern is offering his black bean chili. “I like to do tailgate food at this event,” he said. “We’re doing it with saltines and minced onions and grated cheese and all the quote-unquote fixings, like the same way I would at a tailgate before a Giants or Vikings game.”

The chef, without elaborating, said he had potential TV and restaurant projects ahead for the city.

“I absolutely adore Vegas. It’s been incredible seeing it grow over the last 20 years as an incredible destination for amazing food.”

Local talent

Vegas and Vegas-affiliated chefs are getting into formation, too, for Taste of the NFL.

Look for DJ Flores of Milpa (the tortilla king of Vegas), Paula Escudero and Sean Paul of Smokin’ Good Bistro & Deli, Rochelle Hodge of Twice Baked (home of lavish baked potatoes), and Dan Chatman of Family Soul. These chef-owners represent the PepsiCo Foundation’s Hispanic business and Black restaurant accelerator programs.

James Trees, chef-owner of Esther’s Kitchen? He’s suiting up as well, along with chefs Todd English of his eponymous hospitality group, Belle English of Williams-Sonoma, Lorena Garcia of Chica in The Venetian, Jennifer Yee of Wynn Las Vegas and several more.

Taste of the NFL begins at 3 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Keep Memory Alive Center, 888 W. Bonneville Ave. For tickets and details, visit tasteofthenfl.com.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram and @ItsJLW on X.