Supporting food insecurity one fork at a time

 
 
 
 
 

The Dinner Roll Dance is a collaborative NFT project that unites NYC chefs, restaurateurs, and entertainers in an effort to combat the rising tide of food insecurity brought on by the pandemic.

The Dinner Roll Campaign will be donating 100% of our proceeds to City Harvest to help to strengthen NYC communities and to people struggling to feed themselves and their families.

The Origin Story.

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 biting satire that also featured tender moments of levity and laughter.

With a nod to Chaplin’s iconic performance, the Dinner Roll Dance campaign seeks to celebrate and support the diverse cuisine within NYC by tapping New York City-based chefs, restauranteurs, actors, comedians, TV personalities, and musicians to create their own Dinner Roll Dances with their favorite food. As Chaplin’s Dinner Roll Dance from that film so eloquently communicates, restaurants are places of entertainment, connection, joy, and laughter.

This dynamic moving collage will serve as a beautiful celebration of NYC’s diverse cuisine and culture, and will remind us of the lighthearted foodie moments with family and friends that we all aspire to have again soon.

With Chaplin’s eccentric showmanship and imagination on full display, 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.

Partnership

City Harvest is the 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 our city -- one day, one meal, one New Yorker at a time. To learn more, please visit cityharvest.org.

 
 
 
 

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.

And although these cost increases are challenging to our quality of life as everyday Americans, it is our vulnerable communities that struggling on a deeper level 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.

For the past 7 years, as owners of Muse Cafe, George 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 afloat. 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 as 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 that are struggling to keep their doors open during these difficult times.”.

 
 

Rachel Ray

Ronnie Woo

Yamilet Correa

Ted Allen

Angie Rito

Eden Grinshpan

Anita Lo

David Burke

Scott Tacinelli.

Auzerais Bellamy

Jaymee Sire

Jen Balisi

Steven Wong

Katie Lee

Spike Mendelsohn

Nate Berkus

Lucien Redwood

Zac Posen

Daphne Oz

Geoffrey Zakarian

Jeremiah Brent

Ricky Paull Goldin

Jonathan Waxman

Mary Attea

Jason Birchard

John Cusimano

Susan Miller

Mary Giuliani

Amanda+Freitag

Melba Wilson

Christian Petroni

Sunny Hostin

Cliff Crooks

David Steingard

Danny Seo

Zack Golper

Justin Chapple

Jordan Andino

Jernard Wells

Dara Pollack

Raven Symone

Danny Meyer

JJ Johnson

Christina Correa

Lidia Bastianich

Matt Abdoo

Sara Gore

Timon Balloo

Mickey Boardman

Gretta Monahan

Maneet Chauhan

Bryce Shuman

Pei Wei

Dana Cowin

Sam Catlin

Marcus Samuelsson

Samantha Seneviratne

Eric Ripert

Jeff Mauro

Abby Swain

Stefano Secchi

Rosa Garcia

Joy Bauer

Mark Strausman

Jorge Tixi

Adam Platt

Bryan Penafiel

Richard Blais

 
 
 
 

The Dinner Campaign is honored that our digital art collage, the "Dinner Roll Dance", will be sold at  City Harvest’s Spring Gala on 4/25/23. The “Dinner Roll Dance” has been a true  labor  of  love  that was born during the heart  of  covid 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.

In addition to the work we have done around food insecurity, we have been 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,

Our current pilot program, at YCD High School in Flatbush Brooklyn, is focusing on content/ media / marketing projects that support local restaurants and food banks in their own backyards. 

Through the process, the students are gaining valuable creative and technical skills and a great sense of pride in giving back. 

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

 
 
 
 

The Dinner Roll Campaign team are seasoned professionals in entertainment, marketing and technology.

  • JOSH VICTOR ROTHSTEIN

    Creative Director + Founder

  • BLAKE SWERDLOFF

    Executive Producer + Founder

  • CANDICE LOMBARDI

    Senior Producer

  • DAVE WEINSTEIN

    Business and Technology Consultant

  • NICOLE LUCEY

    Creative Advertising Consultant

  • DOROTHEA TAYLOR

    Illustrator

  • BEN LARD

    Brand Strategist

  • HAE SEOUNG KIM

    Assistant Art Director

  • SARA HUSSAIN

    Administrative Assistant

  • JASON ROSS

    Strategy & Creative Advisor

  • LINDA YANG

    Consultant - Partnerships

  • JOIASHANTI WATKIS

    Editorial

  • JESSE BONNELL

    Web Designer

  • ALE HERNANDEZ

    Visual & Motion Designer 


  • DAVID STEINGARD

    Producer - Foundations

  • JILL ROTHSTEIN

    Creative Consultant

 

PRESS

 
 
 

05.04.22

 

STUDIO 525 HOSTS SOLD-OUT FUNDRAISER 'EATING STORIES'

The event raised funds in support of independent restaurants and combating food insecurity.

Read Full Article.....

 

04.30.22

Exclusive Interview with 5x Emmy-Nominated Producer and The Dinner Roll Campaign Co-Founder Blake Swerdloff.

Read Full Article….

 
 

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.