When you think about a “jam” event some might think of jamming out to music, but Food For Thought’s Jam City fund-raiser means “jam” in a more literal sense: gourmet takes on the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Roughly 20 Toledo-based restaurants are planning to serve up unique versions of PB&Js to guests, with past creations including a peanut butter and jelly bread pudding from the Original Sub Shop and a pistachio butter crostini with sweet tomato jam from Ye Olde Durty Bird.
“This event is a fun play on how Food For Thought came to be,” said Scot Henshaw, vice chair of Food For Thought’s board of directors. "[It was] started by a group of guys making PB&Js to not only provide a meal to those who needed it, but [to] connect and have thoughtful interactions.”
IF YOU GO: What: Jam City
When: 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday
Where: Fifth Third Building, One Seagate, Toledo, OH 43604
Admission: General admission tickets $70, purchased online or at-the-door.
Information:
feedtoledo.org .
This will be the 9th year of Jam City, said Tonya Scherf, the executive director for Food For Thought, with the event set to take place on Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Fifth Third Building in downtown Toledo.
“It’s an opportunity for the restaurants to get a little bit creative and to showcase what they can do,” she continued. “We have a really great community, and a lot of great restaurants. They’re always looking for ways to give back.”
From peanut butter and jelly sushi rolls to peanut crusted lamp chops with jam drizzle, Henshaw said he continues to be shocked by the fun the restaurants have in creating these innovative dishes.
Alongside the food offerings, there will be signature cocktails and mocktails available for purchase, a silent auction, 50/50 raffle, live music, a photo booth, games for guests, and more.
This is the one big fund-raiser for Food For Thought, the executive director said, noting that the organization is a small, grassroots non-profit focused on feeding the hungry in an intentional manner.
“It's so, so important for us to raise money through this event, so we can offer quality items. … We purchase our produce so it's fresh,” Scherf said. “Events like this are hugely important, so we can try to fight food insecurity in this area.”
And this event strives to do just that, she added, mentioning that past guests of the event seemed especially excited to vote for their favorite dishes, including three categories: most creative, best presentation, and grand “jam-pion.”
The 2023 Jam City winners were Bombay Kitchen for most creative, Harbor Town Tavern for best presentation, and Deet's BBQ for grand jam-pion.
Rita Jassal, owner of Bombay Kitchen, is returning to the event for the second year in a row, she said, adding that the Jam City fund-raiser is held for a clear and good purpose.
“It’s just nice to see all different people come together to support the cause,” she said. “Just to see all the support that Toledo has, it’s amazing what Toledo can do when we all come together.”
Jassal said the event makes for the opportunity to give Toledo a taste of Indian cuisine, sharing that Bombay Kitchen won most creative last year with its samosas dolloped with a peanut butter and jelly sauce.
“We made a dipping [sauce] with Indian spices and peanut butter and jelly mixed,” she recalled. “We cut the samosas [filled with potatoes and peas] in half, and put [the sauce] on top of the samosas. Between the sweet and spicy kick from the samosas and the peanut butter being super sweet, it was just amazing.”
This year’s dish is a secret, Jassal said, but it will be something different from last year for guests to try, noting that the restaurant has been testing recipes for Jam City for about three weeks.
As she reflected on last year’s event, the owner said “It was nice to see all the restaurants and all the creative things that they came out with, like their table designs,” she continued. “I was a newcomer of the [event] last year, and I thought, ‘Next year, I’m going to decorate my table.’”
There’s a lot of hard work that goes into this event, Jassal shared, and it’s even more rewarding when the community comes together to support the purpose of Jam City.
“The work that Food for Thought [does] is so paramount to those in our community,” Henshaw added. “We not only maintain our PB&J programming which has not missed a day since 2007, but we also maintain 10 mobile food pantries. We seek to ensure that communities that are underserved have access to food and we do so thoughtfully, allowing patrons to select items that will be meaningful to their household.”
This event helps fund much of the work at Food For Thought, the vice chair said, noting that it gives the non-profit space to connect to community members with the opportunity to give back and get involved.
Food for Thought is celebrating 17 years of service come May, with its mobile pantries serving more than 600 families each month, Scherf added, which comes to over 18,000 people a year.
“I just want people to get together and have a good time,” she said as she eagerly awaits this year’s fund-raiser. “In the city of Toledo, there’s no shortage of opportunities to give back to the community. We’re just hoping to provide a really fun event for a good cause, and help feed people because you never know when it might be you that’s in need.”
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