We kicked off our AAPI initiative with a HUGELY successful event hosted by LA Food Gang, featuring many thoughtful stories and discussions. We have already surpassed our fundraising goal but there is still more work to do. Please donate to help us continue this important mission.

Your donations will help us pay AAPI-owned restaurants to prep meals for AAPI shelters in their communities. An example is Noodle Girl in Berkeley - founded by a Vietnamese woman who lost her husband to cancer and started a pop-up based on her mother’s pho recipe that she made her husband in his last months. She is paired with the Asian Women’s Shelter in SF, which supports women, children and transgender victims of trafficking and domestic abuse.

Off Their Plate is 100% volunteer run meaning we have no overhead, so 100% of your donations go directly to those in need.

See below for info about our kickoff event held March 3, 2021:

LA Food Gang presents Let's Eat Together, a Fundraiser for the AAPI Community

5 pm PST on Clubhouse ( https://www.joinclubhouse.com/... )

Donations support struggling AAPI restaurants and community members via Off Their Plate

Hosted and moderated by: LA Food Gang (Crystal Coser, Andy Wang, Yu Tsai)

Keynote speakers: Margaret Cho, Lisa Ling

Musical guest: Bomani X

Special appearances by: Ruth Reichl, Michelle Kwan, Jason Wu, Phil Rosenthal, Jeannie Mai, Nischelle Turner, Dorothy Wang, Leah Wyar, Aya Kanai, Sam Hyun of Hate is a Virus, Swan Sit, Daniel Nguyen, Rembrandt Flores, Wolf x Lion, Alisa Jacobs, Kiara Aguillon, Kane Lim, Kevin Kreider, Emily Erkel, and Becky Tsai

Participating chefs/restaurateurs: Wolfgang Puck, Niki Nakayama, Mei Lin, Timothy Hollingsworth, Shirley Chung, Duff Goldman, Esdras Ochoa, Timon Balloo, Matt Horn, Marissa Hermer, Yunnie Kim, Paulie James, and more

Sponsors include: Bites & Bashes, Only Crack Sauce, RiceBox, Vervet, and Valerie Confections

General information & donation website: www.lafoodgang.com

At the end of January 2021, friends Crystal Coser, Andy Wang, and Yu Tsai created LA Food Gang on the Clubhouse app in an effort to create a community for the Los Angeles restaurant industry during isolating pandemic times.

A recurring topic of LA Food Gang’s virtual gatherings had been amplifying the voices of their Asian American Pacific Islander community, especially given the recent string of violent hate crimes which received relatively little mainstream media coverage at that time.

During a separate Clubhouse room moderated by actor Daniel Dae Kim, he reiterated a $25,000 reward jointly created by him and fellow actor Daniel Wu to find a perpetrator that assaulted an elderly Asian man in Oakland. Thousands of people participated in this Clubhouse room and many other Clubhouse discussions about AAPI awareness, which then resulted in global media coverage. After witnessing the power of numbers within these series of events, LA Food Gang set a goal to leverage this growing platform to take actionable steps to support their community and help #StopAsianHate.

On Wednesday, March 3rd, LA Food Gang will host Let's Eat Together, a virtual Clubhouse event featuring celebrities, activists, chefs, and allies to speak about how we can uplift marginalized voices while supporting both AAPI restaurants and the AAPI community at large.

Actress & Comedian Margaret Cho and Journalist & TV Host Lisa Ling will lead the event as keynote speakers. The program will also feature special appearances by:

Olympian Michelle Kwan, Food Writer, Chef & TV Host Ruth Reichl, Designer Jason Wu, Kane Lim and the cast of Bling Empire, Samuel Hyun of Hate Is A Virus, Travel & Food TV Host Phil Rosenthal, plus chefs Wolfgang Puck, Niki Nakayama, Duff Goldman, Matt Horn, and many others.

Let’s Eat Together will feature introspective conversations and personal messages concerning the AAPI community, plus a donation website with a virtual silent auction with proceeds which will directly benefit Off Their Plate, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to food justice solutions. Off Their Plate will then distribute these funds to struggling AAPI restaurants, who will also make meals for AAPI community organizations across the country.

Those unable to join the live virtual event can donate, bid on auction items and see event highlights on Off Their Plate’s website. The goal of Let’s Eat Together is to uplift and connect the AAPI community and their voices, not only on a national level but on a global scale - ultimately connecting all communities, no matter their background, through the power of food.

About LA Food Gang: Founded by Crystal Coser (the President of catering company Bites & Bashes and the former Associate Editor of Eater LA), Andy Wang (a food writer whose credits include Los Angeles Magazine and Food & Wine), and Yu Tsai (a celebrity photographer, TV personality and host, creative director, and host of Let’s Talk With Yu Tsai podcast). Find them every Sunday at 8PM PST on Clubhouse for conversations with LA chefs and a forum to share ideas, celebrate triumphs, find solutions, make meaningful connections, and dish on restaurant recommendations.

LA Food Gang presents Let's Eat Together with Off Their Plate

By Off Their Plate

LA Food Gang presents Let's Eat Together with Off Their Plate

A Fundraiser for the AAPI Community

Team Members