Cinco de Mayo was the theme for this year’s 15th annual Men Who Cook event.
Summa Health and greater Akron’s top amateur male chefs joined forces for a culinary competition and a savory night of fundraising Friday at Todaro’s Party Center.
The event directly benefits an area that provides care or services to the patients and communities served by Summa Health.
Top amateur male chefs competed for titles, including the “People’s Choice Award,” which were determined by votes among attendees and a panel of women judges who tasted the delectable creations throughout the fun event.
Dale Murphy and his wife, Cindy Murphy, started making their sauce the day before the event, which took about 10 hours.
“I’m enjoying the meatballs and rice,” said A.J. Stokes.
“There are so many different things to eat,” said Marlene Ziss.
Linda Choken and Judy Rogers loved Frank Mikolay’s Pistachio Four-Layer Delight.
Mikolay said, “This recipe was always a family favorite.”
This year’s judges were Katie Byard, Kara Hanzie, Debora Rolland, Melissa Soltis, Glena Steele, Cindy Struk, Rena Suber, Emilia Sykes, Mary Ward and Lorraine Washington.
Mix masters serving up their specialty drinks were Joel and Paul Testa and Dr. David Custodio.
The gala will benefit Summa Health at Home, a home care, palliative care and hospice program that gives adult patients of all ages the opportunity to recover from an illness or injury in an environment where they are most comfortable — at home.
“Some 1,400 people are served daily in our home-care services and 250 daily in hospice alone,” said Cliff Deveny, interim chief executive officer at Summa.
Martha Bingham said, “My dad was in hospice and died just last year. These services make such a difference for families.”
