Chefs Of World Leaders And InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts Feed New York's Hungry Like Royalty To Shine A Spotlight On Hunger

NEW YORK, July 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand and members of Le Club des Chefs de Chefs (C.C.C.) -- the organization of chefs to the world's Heads of State -- are in New York serving the city's hungry dishes that are literally fit for a king. Engaging in "diplomacy through gastronomy", 20 personal chefs of the world's presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens and princes are partnering with the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel's Executive Chef Serge Devesa and City Harvest to serve lunch to more than 200 New Yorkers in need at the Xavier Mission, located at 55 W 15th Street in New York on Saturday, July 27.

The recipes being prepared, which are not necessarily haute cuisine, provide a view of home-style cooking from the first families of the world. Ten dishes created by the personal chefs of the President of the United States, the Queen of England, Queen of Denmark, Chancellor of Germany, President of India, Prime Minister of Canada, Prince of Monaco – and other world leaders recipes will be featured at the luncheon.

Le Club des Chefs de Chefs, the InterContinental New York Barclay – a leader in sustainable hospitality and the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand – a premiere host for traveling heads of state and their delegations are sponsoring the lunch at Xavier Mission, and through this philanthropic project, they aim to highlight the importance of hunger alleviation.

During the week of July 29th, 16 InterContinental properties' restaurants in the U.S., Canada, Costa Rica and Argentina will feature the dishes as part of a special "Fit for Royalty" menu. A portion of the proceeds from this menu will be donated to local food banks in participating hotels' cities. The initiative will allow our guests to not only get a taste of the favorite recipes from prominent dignitaries from around the world but also draw attention to the important borderless issue of hunger.

The 20 visiting Chefs of World Leaders include:

• Cristeta Pasia COMERFORD: Chef to President Barack Obama of the United States of America
• Christian GARCIA: Club President - Chef to His Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco
• Mark FLANAGAN: Club Vice President - Chef to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain
• Machindra KASTURE: Chef to President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee of India
• Jesper VOLLMER: Chef to Her Majesty the Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
• Timothy WASYLKO: Chef to Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada
• Bernard VAUSSION: Chef to President Francois Hollande of France
• Ulrich KERZ: Chef to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany
• Gregor ZIMMERMANN: Chef in charge of the official receptions of Switzerland
• Catzola PIETRO & Santangelo GIOVANNI: Chefs to President Giorgio Napolitano and the Quirinale Palace of Italy
• Anton Brinsley Rohan FERNANDOPULLE: Chef in charge of official receptions of Sri Lanka
• The Great Hall of the People in Beijing - Represented by two of its chefs (China)
• Shalom KADOSH: Chef in charge of the Official Receptions of Israel
• Norbert KOSTNER: Chef in charge of official receptions of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
• Isto TAHVANAINEN: Chef to President Sauli Niinisto of the Republic of Finland
• Grzegorz RZESZOTARSKI: Chef to President Bronislaw Komorowski of Republic of Poland
• Rupert SCHNAIT: Chef in charge of the official receptions of Austria
• Charles Ferrier RICHARDSON: Chef to President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon

For directions to participating InterContinental Hotels, please see details below:

• InterContinental Boston
• InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta
• InterContinental Buenos Aires
• InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile
• InterContinental Cleveland
• InterContinental Suites Hotel Cleveland
• InterContinental Dallas
• InterContinental Miami
• InterContinental New York Barclay
• InterContinental New York Times Square
• InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco
• InterContinental San Francisco
• InterContinental Toronto Yorkville
• InterContinental Toronto Centre
• Real InterContinental San Jose
• The Willard InterContinental

InterContinental New York Barclay
Built in 1926, the classic, contemporary InterContinental New York Barclay welcomes guests with a heightened level of personalized service, residential warmth and luxury. The 100% wind energy hotel is a city leader in Sustainable Hospitality. Ideally located off fashionable Park Avenue in the heart of midtown Manhattan's east side, the Barclay is central to the city's most exclusive Fifth Avenue shopping, dining, Broadway theaters, museums, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Central Park and the United Nations headquarters. Offering 685 luxurious guest rooms, including 86 suites, the Barclay is the hotel of choice for the world's business, diplomatic, cultural and social circles. Eighteen well-appointed function rooms provide elegant venues for corporate events, meetings, and social celebrations. InterContinental New York Barclay, 111 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017 Tel. (212) 755-5900. www.intercontinentalnybarclay.com; Facebook: www.facebook.com/NYBarclay ; Twitter: http://twitter.com/IC_NYBarclay ; http://foursquare.com/venue/85741 http://blog.newyorkbarclaybuzz.com

Four Green Keys by Green Key Global 2013
Gold-level TripAdvisor® GreenLeaders™2013
3 Star Certified Green Restaurant®

Club des Chefs des Chefs (CCC)
The Club des Chefs des Chefs (CCC) was founded at the restaurant Paul Bocuse, the legendary temple of gastronomy, in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or in 1977, in the presence of a number of personal chefs of heads of state. The meeting was organized by Gilles Bragard, couturier to chefs and international hospitality. The Club des Chefs des Chefs, which is seen as the world's most exclusive gastronomic society, has extremely strict membership criteria: to be accepted into this highly elite club, one needs to be the current personal chef of a head of state. If he or she does not have a personal chef, members can be the executive chef of the venue that hosts official State receptions. One member is admitted per country with the exception of China, which has two seats. One of the society's primary purposes is to promote major culinary traditions and to protect the origins of each national cuisine. The Club des Chefs des Chefs also aims to develop friendship and cooperation between its members, who have similar responsibilities in their respective countries. www.club-des-chefs-des-chefs.com/

About InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
The InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand has 170 hotels located in more than 60 countries with local insight that comes from over 60 years of experience. As a brand, we believe that superior, understated service and outstanding facilities are important, but what makes us truly different is the genuine interest we show in our guests. Our desire is to help guests make the most of their time. We connect our well-traveled guests to what's special about a destination, by sharing our knowledge, so they enjoy authentic experiences that will enrich their lives and broaden their outlook. For more information, visit http://www.ihg.com/intercontinental, https://twitter.com/InterConHotels or http://www.facebook.com/intercontinental.  

Notes to Editors:
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of nine hotel brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, EVEN™Hotels and HUALUXE™Hotels & Resorts.

IHG manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world's first and largest hotel loyalty programme with over 73 million members worldwide. The programme was relaunched in July 2013, offering enhanced benefits for members including free internet across all hotels, globally.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,600 hotels and more than 674,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories. With more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

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SOURCE InterContinental Hotels & Resorts