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The Hayground School’s 13th annual chef’s dinner will honor Tinka Topping and Bill Telepan, two major influencers in the unique world that unites education and food.
The event raises money for the school and its tuition assistance programs, with additional funds coming from the Hayground summer camp and the school’s annual appeal. Fundraising enables around 82 percent of students to receive financial aid during the school year. One of the most important parts of the event, Ms. Topping said, is presenting the message of what the school means in the community to a new audience.
Ms. Topping has been involved with the school since its start. As one of the co-founders, she envisioned Hayground as a place to implement new and exciting ideas in service of progressive education. Ms. Topping is involved with other fundraising events on the South Fork as well. Along with her husband, Bud, she founded the Topping Riding Club in Sagaponack, which was home to the Southampton Horse Show, the predecessor of the Hampton Classic Horse Show. She continues to serve on the board of the Hampton Classic, which raises money each year for Southampton Hospital.
Her passion for Hayground along with the preservation of farmland and open space, which both directly affect life on the East End, is what makes the Hayground Chefs Dinner special for her. “We put emphasis on children following their own passions and learning about their environment and becoming citizens in their community,” she said. “We always want be a model for other schools.”
This approach to learning is dear to Ms. Topping’s heart—she has been an outspoken advocate in calling attention to methods that shame and limit a child’s learning process and squash the natural curiosity she believes to be so vital to the learning experience. Spending much of her career in the education field, she co-founded the Teachers & Writers Collaborative in 1965, and the Hampton Day School, whose early supporters included literary luminary Truman Capote, in Bridgehampton in 1966.
Mr. Telepan is the executive chef at Wellness in the Schools, a national nonprofit that inspires healthy eating, environmental awareness, and fitness as a way of life for kids in public schools.
Toni Ross, who will be hosting the dinner along with celebrity chefs Tom Colicchio and Éric Ripert, said Mr. Telepan is an accomplished chef who has done very significant work in changing the way kids in public schools eat. He has helped more than 100 schools in four states fight low academic performance and obesity by providing healthier meals and exercise programs.
“If the nation would think about the difficulties kids are having with obesity and low performance—the cost lost to our thinkers, innovators, even our military—they will quickly see how much this is costing us,” he said in a statement. “And if they change how that money is spent, and how much they are funding meals in the schools, and if they think about the next generation of kids being healthy and sharp, the benefits are all there.”
When he is not working to better nutrition in schools, Mr. Telepan can be found at Oceana, a Michelin starred seafood restaurant in Manhattan, where he is the executive chef.
Mr. Telepan was introduced to Hayground’s programs by chef Jason Weiner of Almond Restaurants, a longtime supporter of the Chefs Dinner and whose two daughters attend the school. Mr. Weiner, who has participated in the event for more than 10 years, described the event as a super amazing cause and always great fun.
The dinner will feature a five-course meal prepared by 13 renowned chefs, including Mr. Weiner, using local ingredients, some of which come straight from the Edible Schoolyard located on Hayground’s own 13 acres.
This year’s chef lineup, which Mr. Weiner said is very impressive, will prepare the dinner using hyperlocal ingredients.
“I’m going to be doing a smoked bluefish-horseradish-beet deal,” Mr. Weiner said. “Beets from our buddies at Pike Farms in Sagaponack, bluefish caught by the esteemed Montauk fisherman Charlie Etzel, and horseradish from Matt Schmitt’s Farm in Riverhead. Hyper local all the way through.”
In 2004, Jeff’s Kitchen was founded in memory of Jeff Salaway, Ms. Ross’s late husband. Mr. Salaway dreamed of having a culinary classroom. The school’s Culinary Arts Program is described as a place where students are taught farm-to-table practices, incorporating incidental hands-on science and math lessons, nutrition and business skills.
“When we first founded the school, he talked a lot about the kitchen and culinary arts being a really good learning tool for kids and adults as well, both in terms of sharing cultural knowledge with each other, also with learning math and the geopolitics of school and the socioeconomic implications of food,” Ms. Ross said.
For Ms. Ross, one of the most exciting parts of the event is, of course, the food. “I always look forward to the food. It’s a really, really fun evening, and watching them all work together to plate all the dishes is very exciting,” she said, referring to the chefs who participate, some of whom were friends with Mr. Salaway. “Its simply a really meaningful night of sharing food, conversation and supporting these kids.”
The Hayground Chef’s Dinner will be held on Sunday, July 30, at the Hayground School, 151 Mitchell Lane, Bridgehampton. Tickets are $1,200 and can be purchased at haygroundchefsdinner.org
on Jul 24, 2017