Eating your way across E.M.

A favorite East Meadow Chamber of Commerce event is coming back this year. After a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Culinary Delights fundraiser, set for April 25, will feature a sampling of the best food and drinks that East Meadow and other Nassau County eateries have to offer.

In years past, hundreds of people turned out for this event, hosted by the Carltun in Eisenhower Park. This year — its 18th — event chairwomen Rosemary Basmajian, Lyndsey Gallagher and Taleen Krug expect another enthusiastic turnout.

Businesses from East Meadow and surrounding communities can sign up to have their food featured at the fundraiser at no cost. They can simply show up and hand out samples of their dishes. There will be restaurants, wineries, breweries and other businesses that sell food or beverages.

“I’s a good opportunity,” Basmajian said. “Yes, they’re offering tastings of their food or drink at no cost, but I think that’s not that big of a price to pay for the advertising and promotional benefit.”

The idea is borrowed from the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce, Gallagher said. Their chamber has been hosting an event like Culinary Delights for over 20 years. “Every year it’s grown, which is fantastic,” she said.  “This year, we’re on target to have over 30 different establishments participate.”

Krug said that she remembers her first Culinary Delights event vividly, especially the tuna tartare from a restaurant that is no longer in business. “I still talk about the tuna tartare, and that’s the point,” she said. “They’re offering something that maybe not everybody would essentially go there and try.

“Having these restaurants come and bring items that you may not have every day,” Krug added, “and after Culinary Delights they might actually go to those restaurants to try their full menu.”

Not only do the businesses benefit from this event, though. Half of the proceeds go to selected local charities. This year the charities include the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a 501C3 organization that provides the community with things like scholarships for high school students and support for local Boy Scout troops, Kamp Kiwanis, a sleepaway camp located upstate New York that offers the camp experience to underprivileged children, and the Nassau University Medical Center Pediatric Center.

“We have had other charities in the past,” Basmajian said. “Coming off of Covid, we just felt this year, we wanted to keep it a bit more right in the heart of the community.”

The charities are mostly chosen for their close ties and relationships with the community. They’re out there doing their part too, Basmajian said, they sell tickets to get people to come to the fundraiser.

In the past the charities have taken in $6,000 to $7,000 from the night’s proceeds, she said.

“We don’t even charge a lot to come to the event,” Basmajian said. “So that 50 percent is only going to be so much but it also brings awareness to these charities and that’s beneficial to them.

“It’s a great social event, it’s a networking event, it’s a great fun girls night out event,” Basmajian said. “We have these awesome raffle baskets that are donated by businesses or individuals, or even some of the restaurants.”

Since it’s been two years since the last fundraiser, people are excited to get back out. “The feedback is that people need this,” Basmajian said. “They need to kind of get back to some sense of normalcy.

“These types of things haven’t happened for the last couple of years, and I think it’s like a sign of hope that things may be getting back to normal a little bit,”she said.

For your business to take part in the event, contact culinary@eastmeadowchamber.com.