“Farm to Fork Dinner” to benefit MaxLove Project

The second annual “Farm To Fork Dinner” will be celebrated on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 5 p.m. at Tanaka Farms in Irvine to benefit MaxLove Project—an Orange County nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of child cancer survivors and their families. Farm to Fork also marks the launch of the Gold Apron Society, an exclusive community of chefs, restaurateurs and real-food advocates dedicated to raising funds for culinary medicine and cancer research.

MaxLove project’s inaugural Farm to Fork Dinner in 2015 raised $35,000 to benefit children’s cancer survivorship research and support programs; the event is the organization’s largest annual fundraiser.

This year, the new Gold Apron Society will raise funds for the creation of the first Culinary Medicine Center in Orange County, where local chefs will educate doctors, nurses and the public on the healing potential of fierce foods.

MaxLove Project and the Gold Apron Society seek to raise $250,000 to launch the “nutrition kitchen,” with plans to build it at Tanaka Farms. The eventual goal of the Gold Apron Society is to expand nationwide and fund a Culinary Medicine Center in every children’s hospital across the country.

Farm to Fork features the culinary talents of Chef Azmin Ghahreman of Sapphire Laguna. Ghahreman has been committed to childhood nutrition throughout his career, launching “Sapphire at School” in 2008, a lunch program that prepares fresh, wholesome meals for over 4,000 O.C. students daily.

The Farm to Fork Dinner is a farm-to-table dining experience, serving MaxLove families and community members alike. The evening will feature Happy Hour with handcrafted cocktails, a chef-driven app-off, followed by a multi-course family-style dinner showcasing seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients prepared by Ghahreman, and an after-dinner lounge with dessert and live music.

Chef members of the Gold Apron Society will host an App-Off during Happy Hour, which includes several of O.C.’s most-celebrated culinary leaders: chef Zov Karamardian of Zov’s Restaurants; chef Greg Daniels of Haven Gastropub; chef Michael Puglisi of Electric City Butcher; and chef Cathy McKnight of Model Meals.

To encourage guests to stay and celebrate for the duration of the weekend, the Hotel Irvine generously donated discounted rates.

Dinner seats are $150, tables of ten are $1700. For more information, visit mlpfarmdinner.org.

Tanaka Farms is at 5380 University Drive in Irvine.