Our favorite events always involve food AND charity, so when we saw that Common Threads was launching its inaugural Cooking for Life Festival we jumped onboard. This wonderful charity helps fight childhood obesity by teaching kids and families how to cook healthy meals at home and while educating them on its importance. The Cooking for Life Festival had an all day culinary boot camp with all-star chefs, as well as a star-studded chef brunch.

The culinary boot camps were held on Saturday at FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, with classes and demonstrations showcasing healthy cooking. We attended Chef Richard Ingraham’s class where he made a banging Jazzed up Shrimp & Grits you can salivate over in the video below.

We also watched Chef Timon Ballo of the famous Sugar Cane Raw Bar & Grill teach a class on how to make some insanely tasty and healthy Turkey Meatballs.

Sunday welcomed a marvelous  brunch at the sultry Thompson Hotel on Miami Beach. The brunch was cooked by our rockstar Miami chefs like La Mar’s Diego Oka and Seagrape’s Michelle Berstein, as well visiting chefs Stephanie Izard from Girl and the Goat in Chicago, and John Besh from Lüke in New Orleans. The food was superb as you can see from the video below.

The Cooking for Life Festival raised over $40,000 for Common Threads. This awesome interactive festival inspired us and many more attendees to get involved with the organization and most importantly, impacted the lives and minds of the families who attended.