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Food and Drink

Chefs for Life has been drawing rave reviews for 10 years
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Behind every big night out that’s wonderfully decadent, smacks of excellence where it counts most and is just plain fun, stands someone who knows how to pull off all of the above.

In the case of the sumptuous Chefs for Life event, coming up this Saturday night at the Four Seasons Resort, that someone is Kim Osborne.

I’ve only met her on the phone, but Kim is obviously one of those smart, instantly likable dynamos, and a first-rate impresario of "the big night out."

Ten years ago she started Chefs for Life at her own restaurant in Vancouver. Lola’s at Century House, by way of testament to Kim’s expertise and vision, received Vancouver Magazine’s "Best New Restaurant" and "Restaurant of the Year" awards when it opened in 1995.

Two years later, she worked with her then-chef Scott Kidd, formerly of Araxi and now at Café de Paris, to come up with a fundraiser for an organization she felt very close to.

The Vancouver Friends for Life Society was started in the early 1990s to meet the needs of people facing the challenges of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The concept: to reduce the stress and isolation of fighting illness by providing everything from nutritious meals to complementary holistic approaches to healing. (Today, Friends For Life provides support to people with any life-threatening illness, including cancer and hepatitis C.)

"I’d been involved on the edge of Friends for Life since it started, and I wanted to do as much as I could for it because I’ve had many, many friends, who have now passed, who needed the services the society has offered – it’s such an amazing place," she says.

"People who are suffering and close to their last stages of life and don’t have any support system around them can go to Friends for Life and have home-delivered meals, or counselling services, or bereavement help for their friends and family."

The concept Kim envisioned was big, bold and beautiful. It went on to become one of Vancouver’s top culinary and social events, an A-list big night out, both in the kitchen and the front of the house.

"We decided to invite all the best chefs in the city to come into our kitchen and make it an amazingly, outrageously decadent night with the biggest menu we could possibly build, which turned out to be a 12-course dinner with 12 wines, (one) to go with each course. It was a hit from the start," Kim says.

While the venue has changed each year – this is the first time it’s been held outside of Vancouver, a special "road show" to mark the 10 th anniversary – the formula has pretty much stayed the same. Many of the chefs return year after year, each adding his or her contribution to the fabulous 12-course tasting menu. Kim pairs the wines.

The event’s lively ambience and gold-plated reputation also attracts a host of top sponsors, including the likes of Chanel and Moët et Chandon.

So far Chefs for Life, which invariably sells out, has raised more than $350,000 for Friends for Life – a contribution the society calls "profound." Likely another $50,000 will be raised this year. The monies go towards direct services such as alternative health programs, like naturopathic and massage clinics, as well as the brunch and dinner programs. In all, the society serves about 7,500 meals a year.

A successful fundraiser, yes. But also a real fun-raiser.

If you think about it, a chef is much like the archetypal artist – hard at work, alone, creating, not in some dark bohemian atelier, but in a brightly-lit kitchen, far from other such creative souls. It’s not often they get to work together, and have as much fun in the kitchen as the guests do out in the dining room.

With 12 chefs and company delivering 12 courses for 105 people, it’s easy to picture how busy and "together" the Four Seasons kitchen will be on Saturday.

"Because they all know each other and respect each other’s work, they have a really good time collaborating," says Kim. "Everybody jumps in and helps everybody plate their courses. There’s definitely some cocktails going on, so it’s a very fun night for them all."

The chefs will even have their own little "green room" complete with TV, snacks and beer – after all it’s the end of hockey season and there will be a few fans in the crowd. Not quite the David Letterman Show , but still a pretty deluxe way to wait until you’re on.

As host for the event, Four Season’s executive chef Jason McLeod will be "on" most of the night. To prep, he and his team have been working closely with Kim for weeks.

"We’ve been coordinating all the meetings, making sure the chefs have the right dishes and cutlery, making sure that if they need some help we have a couple of cooks for them. And on the day of the event, making sure that when they arrive we have fridge space available for them and a place to work.

"We try to make it as comfortable as possible when they arrive so it’s like their own kitchen," he says.

Not to say that there won’t be times when things get a little wound up.

"On the night of an event like this there is some intensity in the kitchen, of course," says Jason. "Because obviously there’s a very high-end clientele who are spending a lot of money for charity. So there’s that pressure, but they are also looking at the chefs’ list and who is here, that’s why it’s become a very prestigious event to become part of."

But for Kim, all pressure is off. By the time everybody has settled into their seats enjoying Melissa Craig’s Quebec Foie Gras Brulée with Fig Walnut Brioche, Kim will be kicking back with her glass of wine, enjoying another big night out. See if you can pick her out in the crowd – she’ll be the one with the biggest smile.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning freelance writer who put herself through journalism school on the service side of a serving tray.