A Winnipeg Beach restaurant has another food competition win under their belt, this time for making the best bowl of soup.
Carlo’s Cucina was recently named the Interlake-Eastern region’s winner for the 2024 Stone Soup fundraiser with their Big Windy Chowder.
The Stone Soup fundraiser is put on by the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba every March to raise money for school meal programs in Manitoba. Restaurants from across the province create a signature soup to be sold, with $1 from each bowl going towards the cause, and with each soup being voted on by those who tasted them. Once the week is over, restaurants with the most votes in each region are awarded the winning title and more meals are available to Manitoban students. Last year, the annual fundraiser brought in $25,000 thanks to individual donors, corporate donors, and soup sales.
Big Windy Chowder was thought up by Carlo’s Cucina owner Carlo Guzzi. The soup, made with pickerel cheeks, is something Guzzi’s dabbled in before, so working off the success of that previous soup, he created the region winner for the Stone Soup fundraiser 2024. Big Windy Chowder includes pickerel cheeks, baby white potatoes, corn, shallots, celery, garlic, and more, everything blended to silky smooth perfection, according to Guzzi.
“I just can’t explain that taste together,” he said. “I wish I could eat that soup every day for 365 days straight.”
Guzzi sold more than 120 of the soups from March 11 to 17, twice as many as he expected to. He said he went through six pots of the pickerel chowder that week, and heard from customers it was the best soup they’ve ever had.
“There were people from Winnipeg and all over the province coming just to have a bowl of that soup,” said Guzzi. “It was really, really nice to see.”
Guzzi said he expects the Stone Soup fundraiser to do nothing but grow and thrive, raising more and more money and awareness for school meal programs as the years go on.
“It’s a great thing [the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba] does for children’s nutrition,” he said. “I did it for the cause, not the title. I know Carlo’s Cucina puts out phenomenal food. I want to jump aboard and help in any way I can.”
The Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba announced the winners of the 2024 Stone Soup fundraiser on March 19, two days after the contest ended. This year’s contest marked 12 years of it helping the council to achieve their vision — every child, every day, well nourished.
