Inspirational home chef winner will visit Chef Mario Batali in New York City
PORTLAND, Maine – Hannaford Supermarkets and Chef Mario Batali today announced a unique recipe contest designed to celebrate home chefs and their cooking inspirations.
The Mario Batali™ Home Chef Challenge invites cooks to submit a favorite, original recipe, along with an inspirational story explaining the significance of the recipe and how its qualities and simplicity can excite others about cooking at home.
One grand prize winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip for two to New York City to meet Mario on the set of ABC’s The Chew and dinner at one of Mario’s acclaimed restaurants. The first prize winner will receive a $1,000 Hannaford gift card. The second prize winner will receive a $500 gift card.
“Hannaford is ecstatic to partner with Chef Mario Batali, a culinary visionary who shares our passion for food, home cooking, and hunger relief,” said Hannaford President Mike Vail. “We’re looking forward to seeing how home chefs use locally-sourced, fresh ingredients that are so incredibly popular in our stores. We know many things inspire home chefs – family tradition and heritage, living strong, healthy and well, and travel. We look forward to hearing exciting stories and eating fantastic food.”
To enter the contest, participants must purchase a Mario Batali® pasta or sauce and one additional qualifying item available at their local Hannaford store. At checkout, customers will receive an entry code for submitting their recipe at Hannaford.com/HomeChefChallenge.
The participating products available at Hannaford include Mario Batali® pasta and sauces, select produce and meats, fresh herbs and cheeses, and seasonings. A handful of other home entertaining meal accompaniments, such as chocolate and sparkling water, are also available as participating products. Participating products do not need to be used in the cook’s submitted recipe. For a full list of products, visit Hannaford.com/HomeChefChallenge.
Participants must submit the full recipe, entry code, and a brief story explaining what inspires them to be a home chef at Hannaford.com/HomeChefChallenge. An accompanying photo or video is optional. The submission deadline is October 31, 2017 at 12:59 p.m.
A total of nine semi-finalists will be selected to compete in one of three tasting events in Portland, ME; Burlington, VT; and Albany, NY. The semi-finalists will prepare and present their recipe to a panel of local judges, who will determine one finalist from each location. Mario will select the grand prize winner from the three finalists.
The Mario Batali Home Chef Challenge is open to legal residents of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Massachusetts ages 18 years or older. Limit one entry per customer. Entry must be no longer than 1,500 characters for the recipe and 500 characters for the story. Entry must be created by the entrant and not copied from another source; have been previously published; or previously won a prize or award.
For more information about the Mario Batali Home Chef Challenge, visit Hannaford.com/HomeChefChallenge.
About Hannaford Supermarkets
Hannaford Supermarkets, based in Scarborough, Maine, operates 181 stores in the Northeast. Stores are located in Maine, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Hannaford employs more than 27,000 associates. Additional information can be found at www.hannaford.com.
About Mario Batali
Mario Batali counts 26 restaurants, eleven cookbooks, numerous television shows and five Eataly marketplaces among his ever-expanding empire of deliciousness.
In February of last year, Mario opened La Sirena Ristorante, a lively yet elegant space offering two distinct dining experiences on the plaza level of New York City’s Maritime Hotel in Chelsea. In the barroom is the Tapas Bar where guests enjoy a food menu of small plates that pair well with cocktails and wine. In the more formal main dining room, La Sirena offers a Michelin-starred menu representative of the entire Italian Peninsula. Mario also opened the well-received Eataly NYC Downtown in August of last year in addition to Eataly Boston in November 2016.
Mario is the author of eleven cookbooks including the James Beard Award Winning, Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes (ecco 2005). In October of last year, Mario released Big American Cookbook (Grand Central Life & Style 2016), which features 250 simple and delicious recipes from San Diego fish tacos to Boston Cream Pie.
Mario appears daily on ABC’s “The Chew,” a daytime talk show on ABC that celebrates and explores life through food. He and his co-hosts won their first Emmy as Best Talk Show Hosts this year.
To learn more about Mario Batali, visit www.mariobatali.com.
To learn more about the Mario Batali Foundation or to donate to the matching program, visit www.mariobatalifoundation.org.