Real Men Cook Host Seminar in Preparation for its 25th Annual Father's Day Event
Real Men Cook, Charities, Inc. and Real Men Cook, Inc. (RMC) partnered with the Safe Dining Association (SDA) last week to host a Summer Festival Food Service Sanitation seminar at the Give Me Some Sugah bakery, 2234 E. 71st St., that educated RMC Father’s Day cookout event participants on how to provide safe food samples to the public. The RMC cookout event was launched in 1990, is presented annually on Father's Day and is a food tasting family celebration featuring men volunteering to cook for and serve the community. This year, RMC is celebrating its 25th consecutive Father’s Day cookout event in Chicago.
“When you go outside and handle food outside there are different regulations. The city wants to make everyone is aware that the basics of food safety are temperature control and obviously, hand washing,” said Guy Rallo, who presented the seminar. Rallo is a senior partner of Safe Dining Association and possesses 34 years of experience teaching food safety and sanitation.
The Safe Dining Association teaches food safety and sanitation to food service operators nationwide and has worked with RMC for the past 15 years.
“What we hope to achieve is food safety so the men understand the proper way to handle food so we can avoid any types of issues that may create a negative light for our event,” said Rael Jackson, the President of RMC and director of the Real Men Cook Father’s Day event.
All RMC Father's Day cook out participants are required to obtain a City of Chicago Department of Business and Consumer Protection issued special event permit and certification before they prepare and disseminate food to the public.
Founded in 1990 by Yvette Moyo, Jackson's mother, and Kofi Moyo, RMC has provided African American men in Chicagoland an opportunity to defy negative stereotypes and serve the communities they reside in on Father’s Day.
“We’ve had 25 consecutive Father’s Day events honoring men who care, men who work, men who love their families and try to do well are really the invisible men in our community and we try to make sure that for at least for Father’s Day they’re recognized,” said Moyo. “The guys that participate are the celebrities; they are the stars.”
According to Moyo, RMC has donated one million dollars in proceeds to non-profit organizations. In 2003, Real Men Cook created its Real Men Charities, Inc. which is now the beneficiary of the event’s proceeds. The Real Men Charities, Inc. mission is to positively improve the way the world celebrates family and community by increasing the proportion of opportunities for committed and detached males to become involved, responsible, and committed fathers for the good of all communities, families and youth.
“I’ve been involved with Real Men Cook for 23 years and the reason I am so passionate about it is because it allows us to present a positive image of African American men but not only that, it shows the community that we can come together and do something positive for others,” said Reverend Curlee Adams of St. Paul CME Church, 4644 South Dearborn. “Real Men Cook goes beyond the forks, spoons, and food. It builds relationships, it builds communities, and it builds empowerment for the people involved and I’m thankful.”
For more information visit http://www.realmencook.com/.
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