SEATTLE - Brendan O’Farrell is cooking for 200 people this Thanksgiving.
The chef and cookbook author, who is a management consultant by day, is preparing a holiday meal for residents of the Josephinum, low-income apartments in downtown Seattle that are operated by Catholic Housing Services.
“One of my highest and best uses is cooking and many of my charitable endeavors involve cooking,” said O’Farrell, a member of Seattle’s St. Joseph Parish as well as Christ Our Hope Parish, located inside the Josephinum.
Frances Farrell, pastoral coordinator at Christ Our Hope, said many of the Josephinum’s 420 residents have nowhere to go for Thanksgiving. “We used to send people to shelters, but a couple of years ago we decided to have Thanksgiving here,” she said. “This year Brendan came forward and said he wanted to cook it.”
“It’s very simple,” O’Farrell said. “If you have hungry, downtrodden people and are putting on a dinner and I have time, I’ll help.”
O’Farrell recently discovered that his old friend, Father Paul Magnano, is pastor at Christ Our Hope. The two knew each other as kids from their days at CYO camp “Brendan came into the Josephinum one day, gave me a copy of his book and said he’d like to provide a meal at Thanksgiving,” Father Magnano said.
O’Farrell and 50 parish volunteers will prepare the meal in a test kitchen on Wednesday, then bring the food to the Josephinum Thanksgiving Day for a noontime feast. “Everyone who comes in will get a gourmet meal,” Father Magnano said, not just Josephinum residents.
O’Farrell says it’s simply a Thanksgiving dinner. There will be the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, with a with few O’Farrell touches, like pear and apple tarte tatin.
O’Farrell’s mother, who was cook at St. Joseph School in Seattle, taught him how to cook a few dishes, but he discovered his love for cooking while attending Seattle University. “I ate at a lot of restaurants in college and I always wanted to thank the cooks and begged a lesson,” O’Farrell said.
Over three decades ago, he met a French master chef, and the two opened a restaurant in the south of France in 2005. They co-authored a book, “Brothers in the Kitchen: A Celebration of Friendship and Fine Food.” O’Farrell also co-owned two restaurants in Seattle years ago.
Today, O’Farrell also volunteers his cooking skills for meals at St. Joseph Parish.
The reason he helps out is simple, he said: “Once upon a time there was a fellow who wandered around Palestine. One of the things he said was ‘What you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me,’” O’Farrell said. “I figured if I was going to have a chance of getting to heaven, I better pay attention to that.”