The Culinary Corps, which founder Christine Carroll describes as, “The Peace Corps for cooks”, is seeking highly skilled professional cooks and bakers and culinary students to volunteer for culinary preservation and rebuilding projects being formed throughout the country (and eventually, around the world).

As it says in this article on the Matador Volunteer website:

“Each trip is an intense, active, hands-on experience in which participants prepare meals for volunteers and community members, as well as coordinate food-related events with community partners (past events have included food field days for local schools and a fundraising brunch for a community agriculture program).

The emphasis of every project is respecting the local culture’s culinary traditions, creating sustainable connections between volunteers and community members, and supporting rebuilding efforts through collaboration and culanthropy.”

Culinary Corps’ most recent volunteer opportunity was held in New Orleans. According to Culinary Corps, volunteers served approximately 1,200 meals during that project as well as led cooking classes and demos.

You can join their notification list for their upcoming volunteer opportunities here. You can also read an overview of their mission and read their volunteer FAQ.

CulinaryCorps is based in Manhattan and is a non-profit pursuit under the fiscal sponsorship of Share Our Strength, a 501(c)3 organization fighting global hunger and based in Washington, DC.

When you go on a fishing trip or go camping in the mountains, do you enjoy celebrating the pleasure of the great outdoors with a gourmet meal cooked on an open fire?

Fans of outdoor cooking at its finest (as well as gourmet food in general), won’t want to miss the four Redwood Creek Campfire Classic events taking place across the country throughout the spring and summer to kickoff the 2008 camping season.

The most recent event will be held on May 17th, 2008 as part of the Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor in Maryland and will feature the semi-final competitions for the contest for already selected competitors from both the North and Southeast (with Hugging the Coast’s own Doug DuCap competing in the Southeastern Division!).

In addition to the Redwood Creek Campfire Classic cookoffs, the Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor will also feature demonstrations by Michel Richard, the critically acclaimed chef of Citronelle and author of Happy in the Kitchen as well as lectures and samples from dozens of culinary experts from around the country.

Two other Campfire Classic semi-finalist cookoffs will be held in Seattle, WA on May 31st as part of the Pike Place Market Street Festival and in Chicago, IL on June 7th as part of the Chicago Botanic Garden Wine Festival which will determine the finalists from the Northwest and Midwest divisions. (The finalists from the Southwestern division were chosen on May 3rd at Mayfest in Fort Worth, TX.)

Winners of the Campfire Classic Semi-Finals will be awarded $1,000, plus an all-expense paid trip to New York City to compete during the first week of summer for a chance to win a $10,000 Grand Prize. The finals will be judged by Redwood Creek winemaker, Cal Dennison, and Bob Blumer, host of the Food Network’s Glutton for Punishment and The Surreal Gourmet.

Like the poster above? You can get it free here. Also, please see the 2007 Campfire Classic Finalists’ Recipes below to help inspire you on your own culinary campfire adventures:

• 2007 Grand Prize Winner: Coal-Roasted Chuckbox Pozole-Stuffed Onions by Leah Lyon of Ada, Oklahoma

• Chincoteague Scallops by Julia DeCastro of University Park, Florida

• Rocky Mountain Pinon Paella by Paul Heitzenrater of Denver, Colorado

• Down East Lobster Scampi a la Campfire by Brian Mulligan of Bath, Maine

• Lost in the Woods Pork Tenderloin by Kim Wittmers of Minneapolis, Minnesota