About Empty Bowl Hawaiʻi
Empty Bowl Hawaiʻi is part of an international grassroots effort to help end hunger through The Empty Bowls Project. Started in Michigan in the 1990s, this concept has grown in the United States and internationally with at least a dozen countries joining the effort.
Presented by the Hawaiʻi Potters’ Guild (HPG), this powerful gathering is where artists, chefs, and the community unite to support food security and the fight against hunger. This one-of-a-kind event blends creativity, culinary excellence, and social impact, bringing together thousands of handcrafted bowls and dishes prepared by Hawai‘i’s most talented chefs.
As guests explore the event, they will have the opportunity to select from thousands of beautiful, hand-thrown bowls created by local potters—each one a lasting reminder that hunger persists and that an empty bowl is a reality for many.
Proceeds from Empty Bowl Hawaiʻi directly support food security efforts and strengthening Hawaiʻi’s food system through Chef Hui’s Feed the People Hawaiʻi initiative. Through this work, we transform rescued, donated, and purchased local ingredients into nutritious meals through efficient food systems and trusted community partnerships and volunteers.
About Chef Hui
Chef Hui creates vital connections between people, food, farmers, and well-being. We strengthen communities by building resilient local food networks that nourish bodies and minds, especially when our neighbors need it most. Through these connections, educational resources and activities, and access to culturally rooted nutrition, we're cultivating healthier individuals and more sustainable connected communities across Hawai'i.
One of our most impactful initiatives is Feed the People Hawai‘i, a permanent program created in collaboration with Aloha Harvest that was launched in 2020 to transform rescued ingredients into meals that nourish both body and spirit. During the Maui wildfire crisis, Chef Hui expanded operations to provide meals to affected communities. These experiences shaped the program’s flexible model, which combines local resources, community knowledge, and culinary expertise to meet diverse needs across the islands.
With support from the proceeds of Empty Bowl Hawaiʻi, Feed the People Hawai‘i is relaunching in Fall 2025 with an expanded approach: integrating fresh, rescued, and pantry ingredients into meals and meal kits, while continuing hands-on activities that equip families with cooking skills for long-term impact.
About Aloha Harvest
“Empty Bowl Hawai‘i is a powerful example of how collaboration can turn surplus into sustenance, and compassion into action,” said Mele Pepa Latu, Executive Director of Aloha Harvest. “Together with our partners and community, we’re working to ensure every family in Hawai‘i has access to nutritious, locally sourced meals.”
Founded by the Hauʻoli Mau Loa Foundation in 1999, Aloha Harvest is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the largest food rescue and redistribution organization in Hawaiʻi, getting quality excess food into stomachs instead of landfills. Free of charge and free of liability, Aloha Harvest picks up quality, perishable and nonperishable surplus food from donors and delivers it the same day (free of charge) to social service agencies, who in turn, prepare and distribute the food to those in need.
“Keeping farmers farming, chefs cooking and communities fed”
