Join the first Food for Soul talk in Los Angeles

Non-profit organization Food for Soul and the Los Angeles Times invite the public to attend a one-off panel discussion with five world-renowned chefs, Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana), Mario Batali (B&B Hospitality Group), Roy Choi (Kogi), Dominique Crenn (Atelier Crenn) and Mary Sue Milliken (Border Grill), who will take to the stage to share their personal visions on shaking-up the food system.

Moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold, this exciting panel discussion taking place on the 5 May at The Ace Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and sponsored by San Pellegrino is a flagship event of the month-long food festival, L.A. Times  Food Bowl, that offers a packed schedule of highlight events throughout May.

The hot topic of food sustainability is ripe for discussion among the stellar panel of trailblazing chefs, each one passionate about using their culinary influence to engage with wider food issues and mobilize others to take action.

The lively debate will kick off at 8pm to be followed by audience questions presented to the panel. The evening finale is a screening of the brand-new documentary Theatre of Life that tells the moving story of how Chef Bottura set up community kitchen Refettorio Ambrosiano in Milan to feed refugees and the homeless.

Tickets for the evening cost $35 are available from the Food Bowl festival website. $5 will go to Food Forward, a LA non-profit that rescues fresh local produce that would otherwise go to waste.

Panel speakers:

Massimo Bottura: Italian chef and restaurateur Bottura is the founder of Food for Soul that sets up community kitchens decorated by artists and supplied with surplus ingredients to feed those in-need.

Mario Batali:  Outside the kitchen, eminent restaurateur Batali helps ensure children are well fed through projects including  the Mario Batali Foundation and the Lunchbox Fund.

Roy Choi: Chef and food truck pioneer Roy Choi provides access to healthy, affordable food in inner-city neighborhoods, including Watts and Oakland, with his ambitious partnership with chef Daniel Patterson, LocoL.

Dominique Crenn: French-born chef Crenn is the founder of a series of dinners honouring CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture).

Mary Sue Milliken: This chef and cookbook author devotes herself to myriad causes including fighting childhood hunger with Share our Strengthand campaigning for sustainable fish for Seafood Watch.