A-listers paid a visit to “Old New York” at the annual Food Allergy Ball at The Plaza. The event raised over $3 mil for the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI), committed to finding a cure for life-threatening food allergies. Reactions can range from mere nausea to sudden death, after eating a bite of something that was simply stirred by a utensil that previously touched a nut (or other allergy-causing) product.

Guests were greeted by turn-of-the-century news-boys, hawking faux papers, ice-skating youngsters from the Ice Theatre of New York, and a costume-clad organ player. A crescendo of strings accompanied guests as they processed to the Grand Ballroom filled with Central Park-inspired carousel horses and canvases covered with park views. Later, legendary R&B crooner Lou Rawls performed. The Joe Baum Lifetime Achievement Award, presented each year to an individual from the food industry, was given to Per Se’s chef, Thomas Keller (who also owns the French Laundry, and Bouchon restaurants in NYC and Las Vegas). Ron Perelman, chair and CEO of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., was also honored.

Event chairs included: FAI’s Todd Slotkin with wife, Judy (their twin sons both have a nut allergy); Sharyn Mann with hubby, Stephen (their daughter has life-threatening food allergies); Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mary Richardson Kennedy (their son has serious food allergies); Patricia and James Cayne; and Julia and David Koch. In the mix: Perelman and Ellen Barkin, Lynette and Howard Gittis, Katie Couric, British Ambassador to the U.N. Sir Emyr Jones Parry and Lady Jones Parry, Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe, David Bouley, Florence and Richard Fabricant, David Burke, Daniel Boulud, Abbey and Steven Braverman, Drew Nieporent, Julian Niccolini, the perpetually tan George Hamilton, Simone and David Levinson, Lori Stokes, Clara and Larry Silverstein, and Liana Chen Silverstein and Arthur Backal.

FAI sponsors research, treatment, and educational programs to make schools, hospitals, child care centers, camps, restaurants, and hotels safer environments for those afflicted. Its goal is to develop a vaccine for potentially fatal food allergies by 2010. Based on the success of this event, the mission is well underway….