The rain clouds disappeared just in time last night to bring together over 800 food fans and stars to officially launch EAT (RED) DRINK (RED) SAVE LIVES — a campaign to raise money and awareness for the Global Fund to Fight AIDs.
Sponsored by Belvedere Vodka and hosted by Mario Batali, guests included The Roots, Kathleen Turner, Carmen Ejogo, Vanessa Bayer, Tracy Anderson, Brendan Fallis, Hannah Bronfman, Jill Hennessy and Scott Lipps.
The al fresco event — held in partnership with Outstanding in the Field — saw guests seated at two long dinner tables stretching the length of Hudson River Park’s Pier 26. Special (RED) menus were created by ten all-star chefs: April Bloomfield and Joey Campanaro, David Burke and Josh Capon, Jonathan Waxman and Michael Symon, John Besh and Michael Schlow, and Mark Ladner and Elizabeth Falkner.
The menus featured locally sourced ingredients donated by Fresh Direct, paired with wines from the Francis Ford Coppola Winery Diamond Collection. Special (RED) Belvedere cocktails were mixed with juice provided by Hurom.
Other supporters of The (RED) Supper include The Hollywood Reporter, Time Out New York, LeCreuset, and Fishs Eddy.
ABOUT EAT(RED) DRINK (RED) SAVES LIVES
Spearheaded by Batali, the second annual EAT (RED) DRINK (RED) SAVE LIVES campaign offers food fans around the world a month-long program of special events and experiences, unique (RED) menu items and social media activations, all designed to raise money and awareness for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
Starting June 1, foodies everywhere will be able to eat and drink (RED) at more than 13,000 locations – from Los Angeles to London, Monaco to Mumbai, Sydney to Seattle.
It costs as little as 40 cents for two life-saving pills that, when taken daily, can keep a mother living with HIV alive and prevent her from passing the virus to her unborn baby, according to a press release. Still, 600 babies are needlessly born with HIV every day. EAT (RED) DRINK (RED) SAVE LIVES rallies the culinary world to help get that number nearer to zero.
To learn more please visit Red.org/eat.
To date, (RED) has generated more than $315 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, according to a press release. Global Fund believes that (RED) supports have impacted more than 60 million people with prevention, treatment, counseling, HIV testing and care services.
Featured image: (L-R) April Bloomfield, Jonathan Waxman, Joey Campanaro, Michael Symon, Mario Batali, and Deborah Dugan attend the (RED) Supper to launch EAT (RED) DRINK (RED) SAVE LIVES on May 31, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images for (Red))