TOK 10th Anniversary

By ANNIE CARROLL

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Tour of Kitchens. Tour of Kitchens started when the Vice Chair of the Cookbook Committee at the time, Meredith Comin (former Junior League of Cincinnati President) was tasked with selling 5,000 cookbooks. Comin, who had recently transferred from the Atlanta Junior League, decided to bring the Tour of Kitchens to Cincinnati. The Atlanta event is a multi-day event and Comin wanted to bring that to Cincinnati on a smaller scale. She thought this event would be a great way to showcase the beautiful architecture and kitchens in the greater Cincinnati area, as well as showcase recipes from the JLC’s cookbook, Cincinnati Seasoned.

The first Tour of Kitchens was a self-guided tour, which gave an exclusive look into seven spectacular kitchens throughout greater Cincinnati, primarily Hyde Park and Oakley. The Tour featured a variety of styles ranging from traditional to modern as well as LEED-certified homes. The inaugural Tour of Kitchens lifted ideas from CinSation like the two-bite options from local chefs, a mixologist and bakery delights from local bakers.

Another thing Tour of Kitchens wanted to bring more attention to was Kids in the Kitchen. Kids in the Kitchen was the JLC’s program partner at the time to help fight childhood obesity. “In order to continue support for Kids in the Kitchen, it is important to educate and inform as many people as we can,” said Comin. And that is exactly what they did. The goal of Kids in the Kitchen was to empower youth to make healthy lifestyle choices and help reverse the prevalence of childhood obesity and its associated health issues.

The first Tour of Kitchens was a huge success with over 100 attendees, and raised almost $5,000 for Kids in the Kitchen. This was particularly impressive due to the fact that this event came during a year when there were two other fundraisers—a fall 5k run and the CinSation Gala—in the spring. The bar was set high, and the Tour of Kitchens has been a hit ever since—the most recent Tour of Kitchens raised six times what the inaugural Tour of Kitchens did! Comin compares Tour of Kitchens to Homeorama (Homearama is a 9-day single site display of fully furnished and landscaped custom homes that demonstrate the latest in construction, design, furnishings and technological innovations.) but on a much smaller scale with fewer people and more allure. Tour of Kitchens has highlighted both contemporary and traditional architecture in kitchens in a number of neighborhoods including Northern Kentucky, Overthe-Rhine, Hyde Park and Indian Hill. With 2020 being the 10th anniversary of the Tour of Kitchens, what better way to mix it up than to have a virtual Tour of Kitchens! This year the Tour will be a virtual “Take Out Edition”. The event will feature three virtual demonstrations including cooking, mixology and home decorating. The purchase of your ticket will allow you access to all three virtual sessions with raffle items being released with each video. Some vendors will be including shopping list links to purchase ingredients prior to the demonstrations. The session videos will be released on three consecutive Saturdays—November 7, 14, and 21, 2020—and will remain posted for viewing throughout the month.

This year will be a little different, as it will feature the vendors and demonstrations more than kitchens. Some of this year’s vendors and sponsors you can look forward to are The Rhined, The Spicy Olive, Court Street Lobster Bar, Tablespoon, Couch Family Fixins, Lost & Found, Revel, and Camargo Trading. This year’s event will be one you won’t want to miss!

Tour of Kitchens, 2019

Sample Food for Tour of Kitchens, 2019