Harlem Food Festival Raises Money For Restaurants Amid Pandemic

HARLEM, NY — Restrictions on large gatherings to curb the spread of coronavirus have forced organizers of Harlem's annual Harlem EatUp! food festival to postpone the event and focus their energies on helping neighborhood restaurants stay afloat.

The annual festival is partnering with José Andrés' organization World Central Kitchen to support more than a dozen local restaurants by keeping them open to cook meals affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Harlem EatUp! has raised more than millions from event sponsors such as Citi, which is donating $2.5 million, for World Central Kitchen.

"Harlem EatUp! was initially created 6 years ago with our founding sponsor Citi as a marketing and promotional vehicle for the amazing restaurants, food purveyors and cultural icons of Harlem, shining a light on them, and generating year-round business," co-founder Herb Karlitz said in a statement. "Now, during this pandemic, we are pivoting to directly support community members in need by activating in many of these same Harlem restaurants."

The first group of restaurants benefiting from the Harlem EatUp! and World Central Kitchen partnership includes: Angel of Harlem, Charles Pan Fried Chicken, Fumo Restaurant, LoLo's Seafood Shack, La Fonda Boricua, Melba’s, Oso Harlem, Ruby’s Vintage, Sapoara, Tastings NYC, Uptown Veg & Juice Bar, Vinatería and Red Rooster Harlem.

Red Rooster Harlem owner Marcus Samuelsson is also a co-founder of Harlem EatUp! Samuelsson's restaurant has been working with World Central Kitchen to provide free meals to Harlem residents since late March.

"This is the next phase of showing how activating restaurants in economically disadvantaged areas can do three essential things: provide meals for the food insecure; provide income for local employees who are bravely helping feed the needy and finally to multiply the economic effects in these neighborhoods through the spending of re-hired workers," Samuelsson said in a statement.

This year would have been the food festival's sixth year spotlighting local chefs and restaurants in Harlem. The festival was scheduled for May 11-17, but had to be postponed due to social distancing measures enacted to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Organizers have not pulled the plug on this year's festival, writing on its website that the festival will instead be rescheduled.

Andrés' World Central Kitchen has distributed more than 15 million meals to people in need since its founding in 2010. Andrés' was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the organization's efforts in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. World Central Kitchen is organizing chefs throughout the United States to identify areas where communities are in need of food, deliver meals to people experiencing food insecurity and establish community kitchens, according to its website.