LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A long list of Louisville restaurant owners and chefs are raising awareness and money for mental health services and addiction recovery. 

What You Need To Know

  • A Taste for Life is Sunday, Oct. 2 in Louisville

  • The ticketed event features over 25 chefs

  • Money raised will benefit “NAMI” (National Alliance of Mental Health)

  • The event was created after the death of famed chef and writer Anthony Bourdain

 

Four years after his death and the restaurant industry still mourns the loss of famed writer and chef Anthony Bourdain. It’s in his memory that Louisville Chefs Chris Williams and Allan Rosenberg are taking part in “A Taste for Life,” a day of celebrating food and advocating for the well-being of those in the service industry.

“It made us kind of look at each other and think even though we might seem happy and OK, on the outside… and it’s OK not to be OK,” Chris Williams told Spectrum News 1.

Williams, the owner and pit master at Four Pegs, is one of the event’s creators. Rosenberg is the owner and chef of the newly opened Hauck’s Corner on Goss Avenue in Louisville.

“The community and Louisville is really supportive of their restaurant folks,” Rosenberg said.

The one-day street festival happening on Oct. 2 will include culinary offerings from 26 Kentucky chefs. The $75 ticket lets you taste samples from every vendor.

“It will also be a fun event. We’ll get to catch up with old friends. We all work so much we don’t get to see each other that much,” Rosenberg added.

The very first “A Taste for Life” happened in 2019 and was postponed for two years because of the pandemic. 100% of every ticket sold will go toward Louisville’s chapter of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The event will also feature speakers from NAMI.

In his life‘s work and in his death, Anthony Bourdain shined a light on the struggles many people in the food industry face and Williams hopes the second annual “A Taste for Life,” will raise tens of thousands of dollars for the cause.

“We all work really long hours and we are away from our families and from our friends, so really our biggest family that we have are each other in these kitchens and in the front of the house. So this is really an opportunity to say ‘Hey,let’s get through anything we’ve going on together,’” Williams said.

Williams says Louisville‘s food scene continues to rebound and the return of this event is further proof of the industry embracing a healthier way of life. 

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