It’s rare to find a bottle of hot sauce on a linen-covered table at the Union League Club of Chicago, but when you do, you know that you’re in for a special evening. Chef Wilbert Jones hosted “A Taste of South African Malay Cuisine,” a fundraising dinner to help purchase mosquito bed nets throughout Africa to fight malaria. Nando’s Original Peri-Peri Sauces, a South African-based company, sponsored Jones’ recent humanitarian trip to Senegal to distribute the lifesaving nets. Peri-Peri is a tiny chili pepper grown in South Africa that is so potent that there is a 12-step program for those addicted to it. Reported fans: Justin Timberlake, Mary J Blige, David Beckham. A few brave guests and VIP chefs sniffed and sipped the Shrimptini, a shrimp marinating in vodka and Peri-Peri sauce. And some asked the bartender to go heavy on the sauce–the vodka.
Photo (color): 1. Charles Pendleton
Photo (color): 2. Kate Burrows
Photo (color): 3. Sarah Kuchar
Photo (color): 4. Melinda Whitemarsh
Photo (color): 5. Davd Rock
Photo (color): 6. Chernara Baker
Photo (color): 7. Greg Spero
Photos by Anthony Robert La Penna
