For Immediate Release	Contact: Joyce Faria Brennan
September 16, 2006	508-961-5270
	brennanj@southcoast.org
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Chef Raymond Lemery, right, First Cook Peter Costa, left, and Second Cook Daniel DaSilva, center, show off the Chowder Cup.

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — St. Luke's Hospital's Clam Chowder took first prize at the inaugural Seaport Chowder Festival in downtown New Bedford on Saturday, September 16. St. Luke's also came in second place for their Disney themed booth.

The hospital's Food & Nutrition Department joined 21 of the city's best chefs for the premiere title. They served up 40 gallons of the winning chowder to some 2,500 people.

Gregory J. De Liberis, Site Manager of Food & Nutrition at St. Luke's, said he knew they had a good chance of winning after taking third place at the 21st Annual Schweppes Great Chowder Cook-off in 2002 at the Newport Yachting Center in Newport, R.I.

"We were a little nervous, but confident once we scoped out the other local flavors. From my perspective, once they announced the third and second runners up, I said, 'It's ours.' Then they announced St. Luke's as the winner, hands down," De Liberis said.

The tasters voted for winners in three categories: clam chowder, seafood chowder and kale soup. St. Luke's won $500 and the Chowder Cup for the best clam chowder, The Pasta House in Fairhaven won first place for best seafood chowder and St. Michael's Restaurant in Fall River won best kale soup. Mattapoisett Chowder House won best decorated booth.

De Liberis said he thinks people were surprised they won because they don't realize that the food prepared at the hospital is made from scratch. "The Food & Nutrition Department puts hours into planning, preparing and cooking a variety of soups and entrees everyday," he said.

St. Luke's is gearing up for next year. They plan to enter the "Award Winning Chowder" and the hospital's famous kale soup.

Southcoast Hospitals Group's Food & Nutrition Department is operated by Sodexho, the nation's leading provider of food and nutrition services to hospitals and health care facilities.

About Southcoast

Southcoast Health System, a not-for-profit charitable organization, is a community based health delivery system with multiple access points, offering an integrated continuum of advanced health services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes Southcoast Hospitals Group, formed in 1996 from the merger of Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.

Southcoast has more than 40 ancillary facilities, including the Southcoast Health Van, home health care, hospice and infusion services, numerous outpatient medical services, an assisted living facility and a wellness center. For more information visit www.southcoast.org.

Southcoast is one of three community hospitals approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to perform open heart surgery and primary angioplasty beginning in Spring 2002.

Media Contact

Joyce Faria Brennan
Phone: 508-961-5270
Pager: 508-387-9605
Fax: 508-961-5876
brennanj@southcoast.org