Batali and Barilla Team Up to Fight Hunger

Feb. 16, 2007 — -- Batali and Barilla vs. Hunger. It's not the title of the next episode of the popular Food Network program "Iron Chef," but it is one of the biggest battles chef Mario Batali has competed in. Batali is taking on a much bigger foe than the amateur chefs that challenge him on Iron Chef -- this time around he's tackling hunger.

In addition to his appearances on "Iron Chef,"Batali also has his own show on the Food Network, "Molto Mario," where pasta is always the dish of the day. Now, Batali is using his passion for pasta to turn a profit and fight hunger.

The Iron Chef is partnering with Barilla Pasta and another Food Network celebrity, Giada de Laurentiis, to introduce a new cookbook, "The Celebrity Pasta Lovers' Cookbook." Batali credits the pasta-making company with the concept of using a celebrity cookbook to benefit America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest hunger relief organization.

"This was a really great idea that Barilla came up and what they've come up with is a downloadable book," said Batali.

But how much will the book cost you, the consumer? The answer -- nothing. The book is only available online at www.celebritypastalovers.com. There, web browsers can print out their own copy of the book.

Batali and de Laurentiis act as guest editors of the book. Batali says the fact he was editing recipes, not articles, made his job easier.

"The recipes were given to either me or Giada de Laurentiis and we made them consistent so that they were relatively easy to format." said Batali.

Ten celebrities, including actors Kristen Davis, Harrison Ford and Ashley Judd, all contributed their favorite pasta meals. From there Batali and de Laurentiis made the recipes simple enough for every home chef.

It's a win-win situation, get a free cookbook and give a dollar courtesy of Barilla Pasta.

Batali says it's easy. "All you do is you go to the Web site and you download it and Barilla will give $1 dollar per download to America's Second Harvest."