It’s rare for anyone to enter a foreign country and bring its customs, cuisine and history into the homes and minds of millions, and rarer still for someone to do it for more than a decade. But even before the late Anthony Bourdain was changing the way many of us see the world—by way of his shows No Reservations, Parts Unknown and The Layover—he was inspiring generations of chefs.
As a “thank you” to one of the world’s loudest, delightfully crassest and most insightful voices, L.A. chefs and purveyors are teaming up for a street-food–inspired festival in Far East Plaza, and donating 100 percent of the event’s proceeds to organizations that better the community and the country by helping the underserved.
“Anthony Bourdain inspired the lot of us whether we were stepping into our first kitchens or furthering our career paths,” the organizers say in a statement. “Although many of us never had the opportunity to meet Tony in person, we all felt like we knew him because he was always a line cook at heart. He was one of us.”
To honor Bourdain and the Los Angeles food community, all proceeds will benefit L.A. Kitchen—an organization that utilizes and prevents food waste, and provides employment training for those looking to work in the restaurant industry—and RAICES, a nonprofit that provides free and low-cost legal aid to immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S.