50 top chefs head the OzHarvest CEO CookOff

"I like to remind myself that three meals a day is a luxury that a lot of people cannot afford," says Mark Best. It's the reason the chef is taking part in the OzHarvest CEO CookOff​.

So on Monday night, instead of serving parsnip cornetto or eggplant tartare with egg yolk jam and lamb jerky for diners at his two-hat restaurant, Marque in Surry Hills, he'll help feed 1300 homeless and disadvantaged locals at The Cutaway in Barangaroo​ Reserve. Joining him will be other leading industry figures – with a combined brag-worthy tally of 42 chefs hats between them.

"Having 50 top Australian chefs like Neil Perry, Matt Moran, Peter Gilmore and more than 150 business leaders cooking and serving restaurant-quality meals to vulnerable people who are doing it tough is what makes this event unlike any other and a truly humbling experience," says OzHarvest's chief executive and founder Ronni Kahn.

Best will be serving grilled lamb chops with spaghetti cacio e pepe, radicchio and hazelnut salad: "a simple home-cooked dish made with love from everyday ingredients, all things that I and many others take for granted," he says.

Rockpool's Neil Perry could have used the opportunity to flex and show off his award-winning skills, but chose to simplify things by presenting a yoghurt-marinated chicken with tomato salsa and rice pilaf. "I wanted it to be tasty and easy for the CEOs to prepare."

The event proves that business figures aren't just fixated with power lunches and the donations raised by the CEO CookOff enables the OzHarvest charity to deliver more than 2 million meals to disadvantaged Australians and expand its nutrition education and hospitality training programs nationally. So far, Kahn is the highest fundraiser, attracting more than $102,000 in donations.

"The magnificent generosity that is out there fills my heart with joy," she says.