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As the proverb goes... Give a person a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime. The Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation has turned that proverb into action.

Accredited through the Illinois State Board of Education and the International Association of Continuing Education and Training, this 12-week culinary training program prepares students for a career in the food service industry. Offered to unemployed, under-employed, welfare-to-work, and other economically disadvantaged individuals, Oliver? Kitchen trains its students in up-scale food preparation, pantry skills, kitchen safety, nutrition, sanitation and much more.

In 2007, Oliver? Kitchen began a new partnership with the distinguished Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago (CHIC). As part of the new partnership, student-instructors from CHIC, an affiliate of the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, are providing hands-on instruction as well as serving as role models and mentors for the Oliver? Kitchen students. In addition to this commitment, CHIC regularly donates healthy, high-quality meats and poultry that reaches those in need through our food distribution program.

Oliver? Kitchen reached a milestone with the graduation of our 500th student in 2007. To celebrate that fact and our 10th anniversary in 2008, we have published Oliver? Kitchen: The First Decade cookbook. The cookbook is a compilation of recipes that our students work on as part of their curriculum as well as a few recipes from guest chefs and our own instructors.

Through its Training Institute, the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation also educates staff members and volunteers of member agencies, those in the restaurant industry, and others in city and state certified food handling and sanitation courses.