On the occasion of Children’s Day, Smile Foundation and High Street Phoenix present “Cook for Smile” with Chef Vikas Khanna

Mumbai: On the occasion of Children’s Day, Smile Foundation, a national level development organisation and Celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna joined hands for the eighth edition of “Cook for a Smile” – an exciting and unique charity cookout at High Street Phoenix, Mumbai. Television celebrities like Manish Raisinghani, Ssumier Pasricha and Helly Shah along with  corporate from different sectors joined this initiative to battle it out over a cook-off with the sole

The participants were divided into teams. Each team comprising which was a mix of celebrities and corporate accompanied by a child from the Smile Foundation who acted as sous – chef which brought in added excitement to the competition. Each team prepared a signature dish of their choice in the allotted time and the same was tasted and judged by Chef Vikas Khanna.

Speaking at the event Chef Vikas Khanna, Goodwill Ambassador – Nutrition for Education, Smile Foundation, said, “Lack of proper nutrition is a fundamental issue and one of the biggest roadblocks in the growth and development of children in our country.  I have been working with Smile Foundation for past many years and we have been able to address nutrition needs of underprivileged children through various fund raisers and advocacy programs. Smile Foundation is supporting the nutrition program in 25 states in India.  Cook for Smile has been a big step in helping us reach out to stakeholders and by end of this year I pledge to benefit more than 5,000 kids through this initiative”

Malnutrition among children is one of the major problems in India. To mitigate this problem, Smile Foundation’s nutrition programme has been providing, over many years, both direct nutrition interventions and a broad range of “nutrition sensitive” interventions addressing the determinants of malnutrition.

“One in every three malnourished children in the world is from India. The consequences are long-term and it prevents children’s overall growth, learning ability and a chance to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty for yet another generation. Thereby it also prevents the country’s growth. In order to bring some real and permanent changes in the lives of the most deserving children across India, we have brought together corporate leaders and celebrities under our ‘Cook for a Smile’ initiative with Chef Vikas Khanna,” says Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion, “We are happy to associate with Smile foundation to take an important step to help children receive essential nutrition and well balanced food. To support this initiative even further we are running a campaign called Digital Kitchen, where we are giving people a chance to do a good deed for the day without worrying about the logistics of a meal reaching the child.” said Mr. Rajendra Kalkar, President (West), The Phoenix Mills Limited. Explaining the campaign, he further added “We are creating an app called Digital Kitchen on our High Street Phoenix Facebook page, all one has to do is register and play the game. Simply, choose from the recipes to cook and use our friendly kitchen assistant’s help to stir up a quick meal. For every meal you cook virtually, High Street Phoenix will ensure a child gets a real hot, freshly-cooked meal. At the end of the campaign, all the funds raised from the digital campaign will also support the Nutrition for Education campaign.”

The event also saw a book launch of Chef Vikas Khanna Biography- Buried Seeds which is written by Karan Bellani and is now converted into a film by Andrei Severny