The 12th Annual Food Allergy Ball lit up the Waldorf with a festive evening. The event raised $3.9 mil to benefit the Food Allergy Initiative’s research and educational programs aimed at effectively treating and raising awareness of life-threatening food allergies.
This year’s ball honored Charles Koppelman, Executive Chair­man of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Emeril Lagasse received the FAI Lifetime Achievement Award. Conor Kennedy, son of Mary Richardson Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., accepted the FAI Legacy Award, honoring the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy for his commitment to the food-allergic community.

Chairs included Julia and David Koch, Sharyn Mann, Todd Slotkin, Patricia and James Cayne, and Mary Richardson Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

FAI, founded in 1998, is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for food allergies, which affect more than 12 million Americans. The organization is the largest private source of food allergy research funding in the US.

Guests included Daniel Boulud, B. Smith and Dan Gasby, Cece Cord, Alexandra Lebenthal and Jay Diamond, Cornelia and Marty Bregman, Patricia Cayne, Drew Nieporent, Julian Niccolini, Lori Stokes, and Sirio Maccioni.

In his speech, FAI board chairman Todd Slotkin discussed some promising treatments in the works, including a Chinese herbal therapy being developed by Drs. Xiu-Min Li and Hugh Sampson of Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

While the gala’s dinner was delicious, you can be sure that it was prepared with food allergies in mind. No nut-noshing here!