Chef John Teams with The Salvation Army this Holiday Season and Would Love Your Help!

I'm teaming up with The Salvation Army this holiday season to help spread the word about all the amazing work they do, as well as how you can help. I was able to spend a day in their main San Francisco kitchen with Executive Chef Anthony Pardi, and it was an eye-opening experience.

The quantity and quality of the food Chef Pardi and his team put out with the limited resources they have to work with is impressive to say the least. In my small, sheltered world of star chefs and celebrity foodies, I sometimes forget that chefs like Anthony exist.

These are the chefs that forgo fame and fortune, and use their skills to make a difference for so many. This video was shot on location, and is intended to give a very brief glimpse into The Salvation Army's kitchen operation, as well as give me the opportunity to tell you how you can help out.

The Drive Thru Turkey Drop

Like most of you, when I hear "drive thru," I think of someone handing me a bag of fast food (of course I want fries with that!), but on Saturday, November 7th, from 9AM to 3PM, you can flip the script by dropping off much needed turkeys at 850 Harrison Street @4th here in San Francisco, at the annual Drive Thru Turkey Drop.

While they will be perfectly happy with you just dropping off one turkey, multiple birds would be even better. In fact, I haven’t even told them this yet, but whichever car drops off the most turkeys (my team of engineers has crunched some numbers and have determined you can easily fit 18 frozen turkeys in a mid-size car), will have a thanksgiving side dish recipe named after them! Just imagine… "Glazed Carrots ala [insert your name here]."

How You Can Help

I realize most of you don't live in San Francisco, and it's a lot to expect you to move here, buy a car, buy some turkeys, and come to the drive thru – so we have other ways you can help.

You can click on iconic red kettle graphic in this post and donate directly. Or, you can grab the logo yourself (just drag it on to your desktop), and post it on your food blog with a link to The Salvation Army's donation page. Either way, they can really use the help, especially considering this year's increase in demand.

A very special thanks to The Salvation Army, and Chef Anthony Pardi for all the great work he does year-round. Also, a huge thanks to Antonio White at Vedaquest.com and Dennis Minnick, who did all the video production on this project.



This is the extended 27 minute "Director Cut"



Note to Foodies

I will be posting all kinds of holiday recipes including complete demos of the stock, gravy, stuffing, and turkey prep you saw glimpses of in this video. So stay tuned!