The Dinner Roll Campaign is a community of artists, chefs, restaurateurs and everyday New Yorkers, who are united in the effort to combat food insecurity and to create empowerment messages supporting our most vulnerable community members.
City Harvest is our primary benefactor of our Dinner Roll Dance NFT. City Harvest is New York's first and largest food rescue organization, helping to feed millions of New Yorkers who struggle to put meals on their tables. This year, we will rescue 153 million pounds of fresh, nutritious food and deliver it--free of charge--to more than 400 food pantries, soup kitchens, community partners and our own Mobile Markets across the five boroughs. We work alongside our community partners to boost community capacity, expand nutrition education, and strengthen local food systems. For more than 35 years, City Harvest has always been there to feed out city--one day, one meal, one New Yorker at a time. To learn more, please visit cityharvest.org.
DINNER ROLL DANCE PARTICIPANTS
Rachel Ray, Danny Meyer, Samantha Seneviratne, JJ Johnson, Mary Giuliani, Jeff Mauro,
Melba Wilson, Eric Ripert, Anita Lo, Geoffrey Zakarian, Marcus Samuelsson, Lidia Bastianich
Katie Lee, Zac Posen, Maneet Chauhan, Cliff Crooks, Joy Bauer, Jonathan Waxman
Raven Symone, Zack Golper, Amanda Freitag, Ted Allen, Gretta Monahan, Matt Abdoo
Jordan Andino, Justin Chapple, Sara Gore, Lucien Redwood, Daphne Oz, Ricky Paull Goldin
George Tixi, Sunny Hostin, Bryce Shuman, Mark Strausman, Danny Seo, Bryan Penafiel
Ronnie Woo, Angie Rito, Scott Tacinelli, Adam Platt, Auzerais Bellamy, Christian Petroni
Christina Correa, Yamilet Correa, Dana Cowin, Dara Pollack, David Steingard, Eden Grinshpan
Jason Birchard, Steven Wong, Jaymee Sire, David Burke, Jernard Wells, John Cusimano
Timon Balloo, Mary Attea , MIckey Boardman, Nate Berkus, Jeremiah Brent
Pei Wei, Richard Blais, Sam Catlin, Abby Swain, Stefano Secchim, Susan Miller
Jen Balisi, Spike Mendelsohn, Rosa Garcia
MISSION
The Dinner Roll Campaign's mission is to help fight food insecurity and to create empowerment messages supporting our most vulnerable populations.
For our digital art project, the Dinner Roll Dance, we will be donating 100% of our proceeds to City Harvest to strengthen our NYC communities, and to help people struggling to feed themselves and their families.
In addition to the work we are doing around food insecurity, we are passionate about fostering education opportunities and new pipelines in the entertainment and food industries for a new crop of diverse content creators.
To address the devastating cuts to arts programs throughout NYC, we launched the after school program Dinner Roll TV in September of 2022. Starting with our pilot program at YCD High School in Flatbush Brooklyn, Dinner Roll TV is benefiting young content creators by cultivating their skill sets, while at the same time making a positive impact on struggling local businesses that are integral to the communities that they live in.
By learning the fundamentals of how to create nimble and engaging content, the students are equipping themselves for a future in a media industry that badly needs their voices.
As New Yorkers, when the pandemic hit, we didn't need to look very far to see the struggles and pain of so many people in our communities. With hospitals filling up, small businesses closing their doors, and a massive increase in food insecurity, it was an impossibly difficult time for so many people.
Now, two years later, although the world is in a much better place, covid has left a deep scar on so many people in our communities.
And with the rise of prices in our supermarkets, and the increase in costs at our restaurants, we are all feeing the impact of this reality in our everyday lives.
As everyday Americans although these cost increases are challenging to our quality of life, our vulnerable communities are struggling to provide food for their families.
It is our goal at the Dinner Roll Campaign to remain dedicated to creating and supporting empowerment messages for the most vulnerable people in our communities.
FOOD INSECURITY
NEW YORK CITY RESTAURANTS ARE STRUGGLING
In New York City, our restaurants are the cornerstone and heartbeat of our communities. In addition to feeding and nourishing our families, restaurants are fundamental stabilizing forces in our neighborhoods. Millions of New Yorkers rely on the restaurant and food service industry to provide sustainable income for their families. Without these essential pillars to our economy, food insecurity and hunger will only continue to grow. New York City, of course, is an extraordinarily interconnected city. When our restaurants struggle, our communities struggle and when they thrive, we thrive.
Through the sale of unique NFTs and a viral social media movement, this campaign’s objective is to raise funds and awareness for struggling local restaurants and New Yorker’s suffering from hunger and food insecurity.
Once a successful New York campaign is underway, this campaign can be replicated in LA, London and other cities throughout the world to raise funds for those who are suffering during the pandemic.
For the past 7 years, as owners of Muse Cafe, Jorge and Luis Tixi have been vital parts of the South Slope Brooklyn community. As the pandemic hit in 2020, like so many independent restaurant owners, George and Luis were forced to eventually close their doors. When they eventually opened back up several months later, despite being welcomed back with open arms, they continued to struggle to make ends meet. The community of South Slope Brooklyn rallied around this beloved cafe and started a Go Fund Me campaign to help their effort to stay a float. This support has helped but Muse cafe continues to deal with a myriad of challenges - such as hiring sufficient staff and being able to afford an increase in produce costs. George and Luis are incredibly hardworking and dedicated business owners - and a result, Muse cafe is holding on. “George and Luis are the inspiration for this whole campaign”, co-founder of The Dinner Campaign, and South Slope resident, Josh Victor Rothstein has said on numerous occasions. “We have all seen a version of this story play out in our own backyards. Our campaign strives to help, not only George and Luis, but the numerous other independent restaurants who are struggling to keep their doors open during these difficult times.”
DINNER ROLL DANCE
In 1925, American mine workers told countless tales of deprivation, hunger, and tragedy. When Charlie Chaplin heard these stories, he chose to channel them into the iconic film “The Gold Rush” - a satirical and tender film of levity and laughter.
As Chaplin’s Dinner Roll Dance from that film so eloquently communicates, restaurants are places of entertainment, connection, joy, and laughter.
With Chaplin’s trademark imagination and showmanship, he turns two forks and dinner rolls into a charming Rockettes style dance with simplicity and grace.
He takes the ordinary and the banal and transforms them into the magical and extraordinary.
In an ode to Charlie Chaplin’s iconic dinner roll dance featured in his film, The Gold Rush, this dynamic moving collage was made during the height of pandemic, and is a poignant snapshot in time and a historic artifact from a uniquely complicated moment in time.
With each individual New Yorker dancing separately within their own world, they are united in the larger frame of this dynamic mosaic. The "Dinner Roll Dance" is a reminder of the bond that unites us when we work together to strengthen our communities.
Check out our HOW TO VIDEO which provides instructions on how to shoot your video!
TEAM
PRESS
05.05.22
STUDIO 525 HOSTS SOLD-OUT FUNDRAISER 'EATING STORIES'
The event raised funds in support of independent restaurants and combating food insecurity
Rounding out the evening were the words of Josh Victor Rothstein who, along with his partner Blake Swerdloff, created Dinner Roll Campaign: an initiative focused on raising funds and resources for independent restaurants and combatting food insecurity. Rothstein unveiled a new digital project, the Dinner Roll Dance NFT: a video mosaic of 68 NYC chefs, citizens, and restauranteurs all offering interpretations of the 'Dinner Roll Dance.'
04.30.22
Exclusive Interview with 5x Emmy Nominated Producer and The Dinner Roll Campaign Co-Founder Blake Swerdloff
Blake Swerdloff was born and raised in New York and is a 5-time Emmy® nominated producer. He is currently the CEO at of Leesam Creative Group. He was also a founding partner of BSTV Entertainment. There, he developed and ran Food Network’s #1 Daytime series The Kitchen, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, Beach Bites with Katie Lee, Rewrapped, and more.
IN DEDICATION TO
MEL SILVERMAN
The Dinner Roll Campaign is dedicated to the life and legacy of Mel Silverman - who spent his life mentoring young artists with multiple scholarship programs and always supported independent restaurants throughout New York City.
The Dinner Roll Dance continues this tradition by using art to support our communities.
Click here to learn more about Mel’s life and his impact on others.