Last Thursday night, The Los Angeles Times launched LA Foodbowl, a month long festival celebrating the city’s dynamic food scene and promoting awareness about food waste and hunger. The kick-off event took place in the beautiful outdoor space at Hauser & Wirth also home to Manuela, one of the restaurants featured that night. Other restaurants including, Orsa & Winston, Rice Bar, Chengdu Taste, Sqirl, Guelaquetza, and Baohaus were all catering their food in accordance with the event theme “Things in a Bowl.” One of our favorite bowls of the night was a Mole bowl from Guelaquetza, “The best Oaxacan restaurant in the country,” according to restaurant critic Jonathan Gold who was also in attendance Thursday evening. Gold introduced and honored Chef Roy Choi with the “Restaurant of the Year Award” for his revolutionary fast food spot in Watts called Locol.  Among some other guests in attendance were Chef Magnus Nielson, Dillon Angus, Noelle Carter and Jen Harris of LA Times, Chef Daniel Patterson, XYZ, and Hillary Manning.  As we sipped mini bottles of Moet, cocktails by Don Julio, whiskey by Knobb Creek, or all three…the vibe felt magical like the start of something new. The evening was the perfect taste of all that’s to come this month! We left feeling excited for the extensive lineup of dining events, panel discussions, culinary collaborations, volunteer projects and other food-inspired happenings that the LA Foodbowl will bring!

Here are some Highlights:

• Magnus Nilsson’s “Nordic: A Photographic Essay of Landscapes, Food and People” on exhibition at Union Station May 1-31

• Feeding the 5000 presented by Feedback: a communal feast made entirely out of food that would otherwise have been wasted in Pershing Square on May 4

• Food for Soul: Cooking Is a Call to Act, a symposium with Massimo Bottura, Mario Batali, Dominque Crenn, Roy Choi and Mary Sue Milliken at the Ace Hotel on May 5

• Wolfgang Puck is presented with the Los Angeles Times Gold Award during a retrospective dinner and conversation about four decades of dining in L.A. at Spago on May 8

• Night Market: a bustling street market featuring 50 food vendors, outdoor dining areas and DJs in Grand Park May 10-14

• Beast Feast with Fergus Henderson featuring April Bloomfield (The Spotted Pig), Kevin Bludso, Nancy Silverton, Dario Cecchini (Antica Macelleria Cecchini) and Jeremy Fox (Rustic Canyon) on the patio outside Border Grill on May 21

• A celebration of the new Filipino food movement at Grand Central Market with a premiere screening of the documentary film “ULAM” at the Million Dollar Theatre on May 21

• Soirée Poulet: Fried Chicken 3 Ways with Thomas Keller at Bouchon on May 31

• A series of intimate dinners with chefs Josiah Citrin (Charcoal Venice), Ray Garcia (Broken Spanish), Tim Hollingsworth (Otium), Michael Voltaggio (Ink), Brooke Williamson (The Triple) and Ricardo Zarate (Rosaline) presented by Citi® and benefiting No Kid Hungry on various dates in May

Los Angeles Times Food Bowl charity partners are No Kid Hungry, Food Forward and PATH (People Assisting the Homeless). Festival sponsors include Citi® and Southern California Acura Dealers. For the program schedule, additional information and event updates, visit lafoodbowl.com and connect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @ LAfoodbowl (#LAfoodbowl).