Traci Des Jardin wins $5000 for SF non-profit helping low-income entrepreneurs

San Francisco's own Traci des Jardins won $5000 for her designated charity, La Cocina, last night on Bravos' Top Chef Masters "Quickfire" round with her Colombier goat cheese carpacio. Top Chef Masters' 12 world-renowned chefs compete each week for the title of one “Top Chef Master” and  the winner receives the grand prize of $100,000 for the charity of their choice. There are interim prizes of $5000 and $10,000 each weeks for winners of the Quickfire and Elmination rounds.

La Cocina, based in San Francisco's Mission district, is "a ground-breaking busi­ness incu­ba­tor designed to reduce the obsta­cles that often pre­vent entre­pre­neurs from cre­at­ing suc­cess­ful and sus­tain­able small busi­nesses.  By pro­vid­ing shared resources and an array of industry-specific ser­vices, busi­ness incu­ba­tors ensure small busi­nesses can suc­ceed. La Cocina fol­lows this model by pro­vid­ing com­mer­cial kitchen space and tech­ni­cal assis­tance to low-income entre­pre­neurs who are launch­ing, grow­ing and for­mal­iz­ing food businesses.

The mis­sion of La Cocina is to cul­ti­vate low-income food entre­pre­neurs as they for­mal­ize and grow their busi­nesses by pro­vid­ing afford­able com­mer­cial kitchen space, industry-specific tech­ni­cal assis­tance and access to mar­ket oppor­tu­ni­ties. We focus pri­mar­ily on women from com­mu­ni­ties of color and immi­grant com­mu­ni­ties. Our vision is that entre­pre­neurs will become eco­nom­i­cally self-sufficient and con­tribute to a vibrant econ­omy doing what they love to do."

As noted in this column yesterday, Traci Des Jardin, whose father is French Acadian, is best known for her French-influenced California cooking style (Jardiniere). her newest SF venture, Mijitas Cocina , reflects her mother's Mexican heritage. Commenting on Mexican Cuisine's recently-designated place on UNESCO's list of cultural treasures (the first cuisine to be so honored), Traci has this to say, “Mexican food is about flavors, taste, tradition and history. I treasure this food and the memories of my grandmothers’ good cooking that were passed down from her mother and the generations of family before them. I was thrilled to hear about the UNESCO cultural heritage designation for Mexican Gastronomy and applaud the efforts put into recognizing the importance of food as a part of Mexico’s culture and a link to the past”.