Empty Bowls has returned to Northeast for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the fundraiser in 2020. Buy a bowl, eat, and keep the bowl as a reminder of your donation. Proceeds benefit various Northeast organizations. (Northeaster file)
Empty Bowls, an organization aimed at addressing hunger in local communities, is back after a pandemic-induced hiatus and is organizing Northeast Minneapolis to fight food insecurity and inspire change in the community.
Hunger within Minnesota communities is an issue that is often overlooked and underestimated. According to Feeding America, over 530,000 Minnesotans are food insecure and one in five families experienced food insecurity in 2024.
Empty Bowls aims to educate those in the Northeast community about food insecurity and inspire them to adopt mindfulness in their daily lives, while providing good food and a fun environment.
Since April 2013, Empty Bowls has partnered with restaurants and artists to organize an effort to end hunger in communities across the Twin Cities. The idea is simple. Artists create bowls, restaurants fill them and proceeds go to local food shelves.
The Empty Bowls organization asks local artists and potters to make bowls for their annual event. The bowls are handmade and unique, entirely based on the artist’s style. In the past, potters have worked within the local community to educate and introduce pottery to those interested in places such as Edison High School.
When attending the event, you pay what you can to get in. Once in, you receive a bowl with food from one of their local restaurant partners. In the past, a large number of restaurants around the Twin Cities have been involved, including neighborhood favorites such as Young Joni, Brasa Rotisserie, Dusty’s Bar and Grill, Gardens of Salonica and many more. Following the event, the attendees get to bring the bowl home as a reminder of the food insecurity that many face in the Northeast community.
All of the proceeds go to food shelves and other charities fighting food insecurity throughout Minnesota.
The Empty Bowls annual event had been a staple in the community up until 2020. Since 2013, the organization has worked with the Sheridan Neighborhood Organization to increase awareness over food insecurity. Their events had grown gradually over the years, which saw more restaurants wanting to be involved and more attendees each time they hosted Empty Bowls.
In 2020 their seventh annual event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the cancellation, more than 900 people had RSVP’d via Facebook to the all-day event taking place at East Side Neighborhood Services, located in the Sheridan neighborhood.
Empty Bowls will be back at East Side Neighborhood Services, 1700 2nd St. NE, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday, March 16. Northeast restaurants are providing rice and toppings this time around. Restaurants involved in this edition of Empty Bowls include Chowgirls, Nixta, The Anchor Fish & Chips, La Boulangerie Marguerite, The Briar and Market BBQ.
Proceeds from this year’s event will go to East Side Neighborhood Services Senior Food Shelf, SNO2 Donation Garden and Every Meal. A “Pottery Lottery” will support Edison High School.
Suggested donation: $25.
More details will be updated on the Sheridan Neighborhood website, https://www.sheridanneighborhood.org, and on the Northeaster’s events calendar as the date grows closer.
