CHRISTINE CARROLL

Christine Carroll, founder of CulinaryCorps, talks about food & philanthropy in the wake of a disaster.

As a 2006 Henckels Cutting Edge scholarship winner attending the Share Our Strength conference in New Orleans, Christine experienced one of America’s few indigenous cuisines and worked alongside those fighting to preserve it during this time of post-Katrina rebuilding. She also had the pleasure of experiencing the city with an amazing group of culinary professionals who understood that, when combined, food and community service can make a profound impact.

Upon her return to New York City, she immediately began to brainstorm about traveling back to NOLA with culinary students and professionals in tow to both volunteer their kitchen skills and consume large quantities of beignets, po’ boys and pralines. After some preliminary research, it became clear that although organized volunteer opportunities in NOLA were plentiful, few specifically courted the expertise of culinary professionals. CulinaryCorps was created from that void.

CulinaryCorps' mission is to enrich lives, fortify communities, and advance civic engagement through food-focused service and volunteering. CulinaryCorps implements this idea by engaging culinary professionals and students in “culanthropy,” i.e., frontline
humanitarian aid built upon a community’s own culinary heritage and nonprofit network. Since March 2007, CC has executed five, week-long service trips to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, connecting over 65 chefs with an intense portfolio of projects including farmers markets, edible schoolyards and emergency feeding centers (in which CulinaryCorps chefs have served over 3,000 meals).

Before life behind the stove, Christine held a research position at Harvard University’s Burden of Disease Unit, then moved on to work as an analyst at a major pharmaceutical company.

Relocating to Cambridge, England in 2003, Christine took a once-a-week French cooking class that led to a kitchen fascination—and ultimately to her Grand Diploma in Culinary Arts at the French Culinary Institute, January 2007.

Christine now spends her time working towards developing CulinaryCorps into a world-class service organization for culinary professionals. She is also the Culinary Center Director at the Whole Foods Market Bowery, a hands-on culinary education center in Manhattan's Lower East Side.