At his “Iron Chef America” watch party at Long View Gallery in the Mount Vernon Square neighborhood on Sunday night, Chef R.J. Cooper shied away from the spotlight and shined it on an issue that he feels needs more attention — the quality of lunch programs in schools. “The school lunch program is terrible now and it is not getting better. It needs to get better otherwise, we are not going to have a future for our kids,” Cooper said.
That’s why he decided to donate 100 percent of the evening’s proceeds to the non-profit Chefs as Parents.
Cooper, who has been fighting a virus for the past two days tells Yeas & Nays he chose Long View Gallery as the venue for his fundraiser not only because it is a Blagden Alley neighbor of his new restaurant in the works, Rogue 24, but also because,”We are trying to raise this community here and the awareness of this community.”
More than 150 guests snacked on hors d’oeuvres, sipped handcrafted cocktails and watched as Cooper paired up against Marc Forgione in the Bell Pepper Battle on “Iron Chef America.”
While sniffling, Cooper said he wasn’t nervous on the show, but there really is something to knowing your way around the kitchen.
“The most challenging thing was working in that kitchen environment where you don’t know where everything is,” he said.
Even though he didn’t win the challenge, the competition was a close one, and Cooper said he’s happy with his performance, and even happier to raise money and awareness for an issue that’s important to him.
