Ad land's heavy hitters cook off with celeb chefs for Oz Harvest

A new initiative from QANTAS and Oz Harvest saw 30 celebrity chefs paired up with scores of chief executive officers from Australia's biggest corporations.

Jointly directed by QANTAS CEO Alan Joyce and super chef Neil Perry, over 1000 people were transported to the pop-up dining area of Sydney's Cathedral Square to feast on the spoils of the hard working teams.

Amongst the corporate CEOs were three of the most recogiseable suspects from ad land - CEO and creative director of Frost, Vince Frost; creative chairman of Droga5, David Nobay; and Leo Burnett CEO, Todd Sampson.

Nobay said his infamy for his love of food and cooking was well known.
"Given I was known as Sir Lunchalot, it seemed only fair I get involved in the CEO Cookoff," he said. "In all seriousness, it's a brilliantly simple idea, brilliantly organised."

All three ad men are well known for the support of charitable and humanistic causes but we at Australian Creative would have paid money to see them don an apron and match their kitchen prowess to the likes of Perry, Bill Granger, Stefano Manfredi and Guillaume Brahimi.

Vince Frost said he had been grateful the chefs had driven the menu planning.
"Thank god it was guided by the chefs and not us," he said. "The combined energy of all those people was incredibly infectious. It would be great if it happened more often than once a year. The powerful network of all the CEOs and chefs combined can really open doors and make shit happen."

Sampson agreed it had been a fantastic event.
"It was a brilliant night with CEOs from across a wide range of industries cooking and serving people in need," he said. "Jimmy Barnes was screaming in the background as they appreciatively chowed down our food. The celebrity chefs assumed the CEO's would be the least likely people to be cooking at home so they had much of the food prepared. "I was happy I did."

The event raised $867, 749 at last count for Oz Harvest and Mission Australia.