Taking on the world one bite at a time
On Saturday, 31 October 2026, chef and entrepreneur Karl Wilder will cook for 11 consecutive hours at Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre
DUBLIN, IRELAND, October 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ —
# Halloween Cookathon: American Chef Karl Wilder Takes on an 11-Hour Kitchen Marathon in Dublin to Support People Affected by Homelessness
On Saturday, 31 October 2026, chef and entrepreneur Karl Wilder will cook for 11 consecutive hours at Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, bringing people together through food to support Secret Street Tours, a Dublin social enterprise creating meaningful work opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness. The public is invited to attend, support the event, and watch the live broadcast.**
**DUBLIN, IRELAND, 26 October 2026** – What if a meal could do more than feed someone? What if it could help change how a person is seen, open the door to meaningful work, and remind a community that everyone has a story worth hearing?
That is the idea behind the Halloween Culinary Endurance Test, an ambitious 11-hour cookathon taking place this Saturday, 31 October, at Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre in Dublin 4. American chef Karl Wilder, founder of The Chef Tours, will spend the day cooking continuously from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. to raise awareness and support for Secret Street Tours (SST), a Dublin social enterprise that creates paid opportunities for guides who have experienced homelessness.
The event is part culinary endurance challenge, part community gathering, and part call to rethink how society responds to homelessness. It invites people to come together around something universal: food and the human connections that happen when people share it.
## More Than a Cookathon: Turning Stories into Opportunities
Secret Street Tours offers walking tours shaped by the lived experiences of its guides. Rather than asking people to see homelessness as a label, SST creates opportunities for guides to share their knowledge, perspectives, and personal stories with visitors to Dublin, while earning income through meaningful work.
The organisation’s approach recognises something often overlooked in conversations about homelessness: people are more than the hardest thing that has happened to them. They have knowledge, skills, humour, experience, and stories that can change how others understand the world.
By connecting visitors with guides who have lived experience of homelessness, Secret Street Tours creates a different kind of tourism, one built on human connection, dignity, and the belief that lived experience has value.
Wilder’s 11-hour kitchen marathon is designed to bring that mission to a wider audience, engaging the public, generating support, and helping Secret Street Tours develop its work across Ireland.
“Food has a remarkable ability to bring people together who might otherwise never meet,” says Wilder. “But the real value is what happens around the food. People start talking, they listen, and they begin to see each other differently. Secret Street Tours creates that opportunity through tourism. This cookathon is my way of putting my time, my skills, and my love of food behind that mission.”
## Eleven Hours, One Kitchen, and a Community Effort
From 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wilder will keep cooking at Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, with the day bringing together food, conversation, supporters, and a live broadcast.
The cookathon will incorporate mystery ingredients and contributions from supporters and guests. We invite our audience to show up and challenge Wilder on the spot. Force Chef Wilder to work creatively with what arrives in the kitchen. The format is intended to make the day entertaining as well as purposeful, giving audiences a reason to keep watching while learning more about the work of Secret Street Tours.
The public is invited to come along, follow the broadcast, share the event, and help spread the word. Volunteers and supporters can also contribute to making the day a success.
The event takes place on Halloween, a night when Ireland’s ancient traditions of Samhain remind us of the changing seasons, the communities we belong to, and the stories we carry. It is a fitting moment to bring people together around a cause that asks us to look beyond appearances and recognise the person in front of us.
## Why Secret Street Tours Matters
Homelessness is often discussed through statistics, headlines, and public policy. Those are important, but they do not tell the whole story of a person’s life or what becomes possible when someone is given an opportunity to work, contribute, and be heard.
Secret Street Tours offers another way forward: create paid work around the knowledge people already possess, invite visitors to listen, and allow human connection to challenge assumptions.
For Dublin, a city whose identity is deeply connected to storytelling and hospitality, the model also offers a powerful way to experience the city. Visitors can discover Dublin through the perspectives of people whose experiences are rarely represented in conventional tourism.
The cookathon aims to help bring that work to more people and support SST’s ambition to expand its reach across Ireland.
## How to Take Part
The Halloween Culinary Endurance Test takes place on **Saturday, 31 October 2026, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.**
**Venue:** Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre (RICC)
**Address:** Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4, D04 P4F3, Ireland
Members of the public are invited to attend, support the event, sample the food, and follow the live broadcast throughout the day. Supporters can help by sharing the event, contributing ingredients where arrangements have been made, volunteering, and spreading awareness of Secret Street Tours.
For information about Secret Street Tours, visit [Secret Street Tours](https://secretstreettours.org/). For information about Karl Wilder and his chef-led culinary experiences, visit [The Chef Tours](https://thecheftours.com/).
## About Secret Street Tours
Secret Street Tours is a Dublin social enterprise that creates paid guiding opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness. Through walking tours and personal storytelling, the organisation connects visitors with different perspectives on the city while supporting dignity, employment, and human connection.
## About Karl Wilder
Karl Wilder is an American chef, entrepreneur, and founder of The Chef Tours, a culinary experience company built around professional chefs, local food culture, and human connection. Through the Halloween Culinary Endurance Test, Wilder is using his experience in the kitchen to raise awareness and support for Secret Street Tours and its work to create opportunities for people affected by homelessness.
**Media contact:**
Karl Wilder
The Chef Tours
[Operations@TheChefTours.com](mailto:Operations@TheChefTours.com)
Karl Wilder
Secret Street Tours
+1 859-413-5576
Karl.Wilder@Thecheftours.com
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