The list of parties and galas associated with Super Bowl week is endless. Most of them are who’s-who events of almost wasteful excess. But none is more important than the annual “Taste of the NFL’’ event that, in the 22 years since its inception, has raised more than $14 million for food banks at each of the Super Bowl cities.
This is why it is called “the party with a purpose.’’
It is the brainchild of a former Minneapolis restaurant owner named Wayne Kostroski, who was trying to figure out what people were going to do with their spare time the year the Super Bowl was in Minnesota in 1992, with no outdoor recreation options such as golf.
So he reached out to his fellow restaurant owners and chefs around the country and came up with the idea to have one chef from each NFL city represent a team and serve one of their signature dishes. With each restaurant chef is a current or former player from each corresponding team.
The restaurant owners and chefs donated their time and food. Tickets for the original event went for $75 and all money raised went to local food banks. The first event had 1,000 attendees and was sold out in a week. The event now hosts about 3,000 people at $750 per ticket.
This year’s event, which is taking place Saturday at Brooklyn Terminal, is expected to bring in $1 million, which is enough to provide 8 million meals for those in need. Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit the Food Bank for New York City, Community Food Bank of New Jersey and Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger.
“The hip scene in Brooklyn is exactly what we need,’’ Kostroski said. “To make this work, we’ve got to bring the kind of fresh and youthfulness into this event after 22 years. And I can’t think of a better place to do it than Brooklyn, but, I mean, you ask anybody on the street and they’ll tell you for 20 minutes why they’re proud to be there.’’
Drew Nieporent, the owner of Nobu and Tribeca Grill in Manhattan among others, has been one of Kostroski’s chefs for more than a decade. He called the 22 years of Taste of the NFL “a great ride.’’