Malaysian International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) Feeds Homeless
The Malaysian International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) is a yearly event that started in 2001. It is organized by Dato’ Steve Day and Datin Su (owner of VisionFour and VisionKL). It aims to increase the size of the local fine dining scene, and to establish Malaysia as an international culinary tourism destination of choice. This festival is supported by the Ministry of Tourism.
This year, the MIGF decided to include a special contribution towards the festival’s chosen charity. And, our Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK) was the chosen one!
Master chefs from participating MIGF associated hotels and restaurants will be cooking and distributing food to KSK’s homeless clients. For KSK’s clients it will be their first time experiencing fine dining cuisine. Amongst the many participating hotels are Le Meridien, KL Hilton, Mandarin Oriental, DoubleTree by Hilton, Saujana, Royal China, Tamarind Springs, Sheraton Imperial, Celadon, Grand Millennium, Al-Amar, Royale Chulan, to name a few. This will go on for the next 10 weeks starting from Saturday 26th February.
Each hotel/restaurant will have a designated Saturday night. They will cook 500 packets of vegetarian food with freshly cut fruits/snacks and a bottle of water from their own kitchen. Once it’s ready, all of the goods are then delivered to KSK.
They don’t just deliver the food… their chefs, kitchen helper and PR personnel’s join in the food distribution too!
Here are some updates on the hotels that have participated so far…
I do not like humans or animals or anything to go hungry at all…..
Tsem Rinpoche
Saturday 26th February, KL Hilton
KL Hilton contributed 500 food parcels to KSK at its premise in Jalan Barat on 26 February. Each meal prepared by KL Hilton chefs included fried rice, vegetables, tofu and potato samosas, some fruits and pastries. All the food that was prepared for the homeless was vegetarian and halal of course. About 10 KL Hilton staff also volunteered for the food distribution activities that night. The MIGF Organising Chairman Dato’ Steve Day and his wife Datin Su Day were also present at this first MIGF-KSK event.
From left: Chef Chandra Arunasalam, Head Chef Michael Elfwi, Dato’ Ruby, Datin Su Day, Chef Lam and Founder of MIGF and also organising chairman, Dato’ Steve Day.
Saturday, 5th March, Mandarin Oriental KL
The Mandarin Oriental KL contributed 500 food parcels to KSK during the midnight food distribution rounds on 5th March, 2011. The meals prepared by Chef Marcel and Chef Bong were delicious assorted pastries, fruits and mineral water. MIGF Organising Chairman Dato’ Steve Day and his wife Datin Su Day was again present that day to distribute food to the homeless. About 10 Mandarin Oriental staffs were also present throughout the activities.
Food parcels from Mandarin Oriental all ready for distribution.
Saturday, 26th March, Neo Tamarind and Tamarind Springs KL
This is the 3rd of the 11 restaurants and hotels cooking for the homeless via KSK. Chef Thiti Thammanatr, who is well known for his innovative and creative dishes at Neo Tamarind and Tamarind Springs, made delicious fried rice for KSK clients which is filling for the hungry clients. The food was sent in early at 8.30pm. Dato’ Steve Day and Datin Su Day as well as Dato’ Ruby Khong were there giving out the food together with the regular, committed KSK volunteers.
Dato’ Steve Day and the KSK Vice President Julia Tan distributing hot food to KSK’s clients
Saturday, 2nd April, Double Tree by Hilton KL
Double Tree from KL Hilton was our 4th participant in Master Chefs Cook for Charity and Chef Eric whipped up 500 packets of fried rice and fruits. Chef Eric and his team came early and even helped pack the food themselves! The restaurants participating in MIGF have been really awesome and supportive in Kechara Soup Kitchen’s goal where “Hunger Knows No Barriers”!
Chef Eric along with Dato’ Ruby and his team getting ready to distribute food to our clients.
Happy clients queuing up to get their meal for the night. It is good to know that tonight they will be sleeping with a full stomach.
Saturday, 23rd April, Saunjana Hotel, Subang
Our 5th participant is Saujana Hotel from Subang. Chef Arul and his team Jasvinder Kaur (PR Manager), Shanti Ganesan (Assistant PR Manager), and Anne Kasim (Assistant Recruitment Manager) all came to participate in giving out freshly cooked yummy Malaysian fried rice with sunny side up egg to our clients! As usual, Dato’ Steve Day were Datin Su Day was there to give encouragement and support along with our dear Dato’ Ruby.
Dato’ Ruby came to check out Chef Arul’s yummy fried rice for the clients…
Chef Arul of Saujana Subang with his team handing out food to the clients…
Dato’ Steve Day has been consistently there giving support and handing out food to our clients himself!
Dato’ Steve Day (far right) and Dato’ Ruby Khong (center) together with the Saujana team.
Hunger Knows No Barriers…
Article in VisionKL
From the Heart of KL
Charitable efforts by the city’s Master Chefs are part of the MIGF 2010 charity initiative with Kechara Soup Kitchen.
Posted Sunday, 07/08/2011 at 19:12 PM
To many, Saturday marks a night for partying after a long, hard working week. But to those involved with Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK), this night is better spent helping others, especially those who are less fortunate.
KSK sees the participation from all walks of life with the same goal: to feed the hungry. Located just a stone’s throw from the parties of Bukit Bintang, this humble kitchen off Jalan Imbi distributes food to homeless people every Saturday night, as well as lunch on weekdays.
“We used to operate from Petaling Jaya a few years ago,” explains senior volunteer Keith Ooi. “But we realised that it is important to base ourselves right here in the heart of the city.” And with the charity initiative of the Malaysia International Gourmet Festival 2010, Master Chefs from the best kitchens in KL have been contributing to this wonderful charity programme.
The night of 16 July saw the participation of popular Chinese restaurant Zing at Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur, whose team, led by Executive Chef Leong Weng Heng, prepared vegetarian fried rice with fried egg and mini red bean pau.
Amanda Teng, Assistant Marketing Manager of Grand Millennium, says there is definitely a need for this kind of initiative to help the poor in KL. “This is definitely something that is great. We’ve been trying to find a way we could help with charities.
When we participated in MIGF 2010, and they proposed this idea, we knew we wanted to be a part of it. We hope to help again, and maybe look into other ideas on how we can contribute more.”
(Source: VisionKL, http://www.visionkl.com/article/heart-kl, 7th August 2011)
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
How much we take for granted what we eat. Think of the many times we sit around having long and animated discussions with our friends and family about what we should have for dinner – which restaurant, what cuisine, which hotel. How often we forget that while we’re deliberating for hours on what to eat, there are some people who don’t even know IF they will get to eat that night.
This contribution by the MIGF is such a beautiful act of generosity and kindness, and reminds us that whatever we have, we can and should always share it with others. By that, we truly enjoy the things we have – there is no real joy in just enjoying something alone and it is always best appreciated when you can see others being happy with it too. I’m glad that for these many nights that participants of the MIGF offered food via KSK, the homeless would have not only had a secure meal for the evening but hopefully also a better meal than most of us!
It’s incredible that KSK received so much support from the public. Thanks to Dato’Ruby, MIGF organised food for the homeless. The publicity coverage from these events was tremendous. Hopefully, other organisations will be inspired to join in to eradicate poverty in our community.
A lot of homeless people are always waiting for the saturday night, because this is the day KSK will go out for their round to feed the homeless. Thanks Dato’ Ruby and MIGF to makes this happen so much, by having this event, actually show that all the less fortune people who have no choice by sleep on the road is still taking care of.
I remember before the Buddha became enlightened he strove to attain Buddhahood by starving himself to the point of death eating one grain of rice every day but that did not lead him to Buddhahood. When he broke with torturing his mind and body, and took delicious food from the maiden Sujata, he gained the strength then to attain Buddhahood.
In that same spirit I pray may the homeless through eating delicious food find the resolve to be productive members of the society or integrate back to society once again. Or better themselves to face future challenges.
Kechara Soup Kitchen has done a good job for the past few years. When KSK started about 4 years, they started with only a few packs of food, and now, they benefit thousands of people every week.
More importantly, they have attracted corporates to participate in charity too. Even more importantly, when corporates are involved in charity, their employees will be getting involved too.
It is also important to realize that when we give out the food, we are not only giving out food, we are also giving out love and hope to the people on the street.
If you have not done KSK distribution before, please get in touch with KSK ( http://www.kechara.com/ksk ). You must definitely experience it!
This is such a fantastic concept… I love the idea of 5star restaurants and chefs putting their skills and resources to good use to benefit the less fortunate in our community. I was present during the evening that KL Hilton donated food to KSK …lots of nice dishes, dessert and fruits… and when we distributed the food to the homeless, the look on their faces was priceless. They didnt expect such generosity nor such good food, perhaps the best they have had in months.
I hope MIGF will do this again and again, and I also hope the famous fine dining restaurants of Kuala Lumpur will open their eyes and their hearts to the underprivileged right beneath their noses. Pass it forward…
A yearly event since 2001, MIGF’s primary aim is to establish itself as Malaysia International Cultinary Tourism destination of choice for local fine dining scene. This year, as an additional special contribution towards this unique event, Kechara Soup Kitchen was choosen as the festival “Charity of choice” for MIGF gourment festival. MIGF associated participating hotels and restuarants which include KL Hilton, Mandarin oriental, Neo Tamarin, Maxism-genting, Double Tree and Saujuana KL Club will be distributing food cooked by their master chefs to KSK’s fortunate homeless clients through the guidance and direction of KSK. Each meal will consist of fried rice, vegetables, tofu, anf potato samosas, some fruits and pastries. All will be halal of course, and it will be the homeless first time experiencing such fine dining cuisine, thanks of course to Organising Chairman, Dato and Datin Steeve Day, KSK president, Dato Ruby Khong, together with the regular committed KSK volunteers and kind friends!