For many years, the Greater Boston Food Bank has raised funds through an annual brunch on a cold January weekend. Although the brunch has ended, some friends and I decided to continue the tradition ourselves by going out for brunch and making a donation to the Food Bank. We are in the Boston, MA area but, wherever you live, why not get together with friends for brunch this winter and make a donation to a local organization dedicated to feeding the hungry. It will brighten up your winter and improve lives as well.
Traditions have a way of sneaking up on us. We do something once, then again, then realize that it has become part of our lives. The first time friends and I went to the Super Hunger Brunch, one January weekend day in the 1990s, we had no idea that we’d be going for the next 20 plus years. Or how important the event would become to us. Or how sad we’d be when it ended.
In December, when a friend learned that the annual Greater Boston Food Bank’s Super Hunger Brunch had come to an end, she sent us an email with the heading “Sad news.” We’d come to plan on our annual brunch together, picking out a restaurant, catching up on each other’s news, knowing that we’d have a good meal for a good cause. What could be better?
We liked knowing that the brunch was a benefit, and that all the proceeds went to feed the hungry. Everyone from the restaurant owners to the chefs to the servers donated their time and work. Initially, the brunch benefitted both Oxfam America and the Greater Boston Food Bank. In 2002, the GBFB took it over.
We thought going to the brunch would be a good excuse to try out a new – to us – restaurant. We particularly liked the idea that the restaurants on the list of options didn’t usually serve brunch. So this would not be just a boring bacon and eggs meal. And besides, it would get us out on a chill winter day.
Our first Hunger Brunch was indeed on one of the coldest days in January, and while we waited outside for the restaurant doors to open, we wondered if the brunch would be worth our having braved the cold. We chose Olives in Charlestown because we had never eaten there, and everyone said it was wonderful. Once inside and warmed up by the fire and the food, we realized everyone was right.
We had such a good time, we decided to go the brunch again the next year. And the next, and the next. Most years, we tried a restaurant we’d never been to so we could put it to the test. Often it became a favorite we returned to for dinner again and again.
Sometimes, however, we went with the tried and true and treasured – La Morra, Rialto, Hamersley’s. Some of the dishes we had stand out in memory. We recall the hanger steak at Craigie on Main and their still-warm donuts; the polenta with tomato sauce at Rialto; the house-made sausages at EVOO, then still in Somerville. And, of course, the Champagne and the specialty cocktails each restaurant served.
Often when we arrived at the restaurant, the people from the GBFB gave us a token gift – a dish towel, a spatula, a whisk, something small but useful. Now when I use them, they call to mind a particular brunch, a special day.
Over time, like everyone, we’ve had our share of illnesses, a divorce, a wedding, a death. But no matter what happened, we made it to the Brunch. Several years ago, realizing that she’d never joined us, we asked our friend Rosemary to come to the Hunger Brunch. She said, “What’s a hunger brunch? You go out and don’t eat?” But she did go that year and for a few years after that. Then, sadly and far too young, Rosemary died. The next year, we went back to Craigie on Main. We ordered Cosmopolitans, her favorite cocktail, and raised our glasses to her. On the way out, we each plucked a sprig of rosemary from the planter near the door. Rosemary is for remembrance.
Now, sadly, the GBFB’s Super Hunger Brunch has ended its long run. But we’re continuing ours. We’re going out for brunch on Sunday February 10, restaurant to be determined. Probably we’ll try a new place to see if it will become a regular. Then we’ll send a donation to the GBFB in thanks for its work. And for giving us our tradition.
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