Many of Britain’s finest chefs will cook together at the Dorchester hotel in September as one of London’s most high-profile charity dinners returns.
Clare Smyth, Tom Kerridge, Francesco Mazzei, Jeremy Lee, Elliott Grover and Jean-Philippe Blondet are on the bill for 2024’s edition of Who’s Cooking Dinner?, a celebrity-fuelled event put on in support of Leukaemia UK.
This year, the event is to celebrate its 25th anniversary, and again chefs will cook and serve their food to fine dining fans. But there’s always a twist: no one knows who will be cooking for their table until they arrive and sit down to eat.
Over the years, Who’s Cooking Dinner? has been supported by the likes of Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing and Rick Stein, all of whom have put themselves up for auction to cook at guests’ homes to raise money for cancer research.
The event was founded by restaurant luminaries Chris Corbin OBE and Peter Gordon ONZM in 1999 and has raised more than £7 million to date. Someone is diagnosed with leukaemia every hour in the UK.
Corbin, who was diagnosed with the disease in 1990 at the age of 38 and is now a Leukaemia UK trustee, said: “25 years ago, Peter and I had an idea to create a fundraiser with a difference. We wanted to use our culinary contacts to produce an event that would be a headliner in the world of hospitality and raise much-needed funds for vital research into treatments for leukaemia.
“We are so proud of how Who’s Cooking Dinner? has grown and become the event it is today.”
Many chefs have been involved for years. Kerridge is among them, and said: “Who’s Cooking Dinner? is one of the best charity events in London. It’s fantastic to see the UK’s restaurant industry come together to help raise vital funds for Leukaemia UK in such a fun and creative way. I’m looking forward to the next 25 years.”
Tickets are now on sale. There’s also the chance to purchase a limited number of tables of ten with access to the chef’s afterparty or an exclusive backstage kitchen tour.
