Ms. Betty's Harvest Madsgiving

Ms. Betty’s Madsgiving Harvest

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing efforts to support the 5th annual Ms. Betty’s Harvest Madsgiving Harvest! where Chef Tajahi Cooke and his Wife, Danielle Cooke, rally fellow chefs, farmers, distributors, and volunteers, to prepare Thanksgiving meals for those in need. With your support, they have provided almost 40,000 meals over the past 4 years and were honored with the Rising Star Community Chef Award from Star Chefs in July 2022.

This year, Chef Tajahi and his Partners have the goal to deliver 15,000 meals across Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood.

This is truly a dream for Chef Tajahi, as he fondly remembers a time when the Salvation Army provided disaster relief, handing out rice, blankets, bibles, and other provisions to his island of Jamaica when he was a child. “The Salvation Army, to me, are the do-gooders, the first to raise their hand and support the community. They remind us that we can be better than who we think we are.”

Chef Tajahi has this incredible saying that his grandfather used to say: “one hand cannot clap, one wing cannot flap, but together we can fly.” Everything is better when we collaborate. Please click on the links below to help make this year a success!

In The Industry? Request A Meal Here!

Donate

Volunteers For Delivery & Clean Up Needed. Sign Up Here!

Check us out in the Denver Post

Explore the Menu

Curious about what Chef Tajahi and his team are cooking up for this Thanksgiving feast? If you’re new to his cooking, you might not know that he gets a lot of his recipe inspiration from his roots back in Jamaica and his grandmother Ms. Betty. This meal will be no exception!

Meet Chef Tajahi Cooke

Though Tajahi and Danielle Cooke were raised 3,000 miles apart (in Jamaica and California, respectively), their upbringings had plenty in common: they were both raised on strong community values. Tajahi’s grandmother, Betty, worked as a midwife and delivered hundreds of babies in Kingston while Danielle’s family demonstrated the value of a village becoming a hub for at-risk youths in the Bay Area. Tajahi moved to the States as a child, then spent years following his tour manager father on the road. He settled in Denver, and his then-girlfriend, Danielle, joined him soon after.

After years of working odd jobs, Tajahi started to cook—he spent time on the line at Mesa Verde, The Kitchen, and Next Door American Eatery, building technique and learning the importance of details. He continued to work his way through the Denver casual dining industry, becoming a lead cook at Bacon Social House in 2016, sous chef at Block & Larder in 2017, and the executive chef of Dine and Dash Group, including fast-casual concepts Biju’s Little Curry Shop and Mother Tongue. Meanwhile, Tajahi and his wife launched a tour management company complete with customized catering.

Named after Tajani’s grandmother, Ms. Betty’s Cooking was born as a tour management company complete with customized catering. By 2019, Ms. Betty’s Cooking evolved into a curry powder business, which later sparked the now-annual event, Ms. Betty’s Harvest Madsgiving, serving roughly 40,000 meals in the past 4 years to those in need. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Tajahi and Danielle with partner Fireside at Five hosted Ms. Betty’s Supper Club, inviting local chefs to collaborate with Chef Tajahi on a ticketed tasting menu dinner to support local causes.

As Chef Tajani’s culinary journey evolves, his mission remains the same; to spread positivity with each action, conversation, and meal he prepares.