Saturday soup and chili cook off lets people keep their hand-made ceramic bowls
Fall is the traditional season for chili cook offs — but only one lets you keep your pretty, hand-made ceramic bowl when you’re done eating.
On Saturday, Empty Bowls Wichita’s chili cook off returns for its ninth annual installment. The event, which last year moved to Woolsey Hall at Wichita State University, allows attendees to choose from hundreds of bowls made by local individuals and organizations, and they get to keep the bowls when they leave. While at the event, they can use their bowls to sample the various chili and soups made by a long list of favorite local restaurants, including first-time participants First Mile Kitchen, The Belmont, The Monarch and Mi Sueno.
The event lasts from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and tickets — available at the door — are $25 for adults, $10 for students. Children 5 and under get in free and will get kid-sized bowls.
Money raised will go toward a couple of hunger-fighting charities, said local event founder Brenda Lichman. The organization has chosen HumanKind Ministries and the ICT Community Fridge Project as its beneficiaries, she said, and last year, the group was able to donate $41,000, which was a combination of grant money and money raised at the cook off.
Empty Bowls is a national grassroots movement, and Lichman — a ceramicist and art teacher who now works as the education curator at WSU’s Ulrich Museum — organized the first Wichita event in 2014. Since then, it’s grown in reputation, popularity and effectiveness.
Her team gets individuals and groups all over Wichita to make bowls for the event. Several Wichita schools make them, including 19 from USD 259. The biggest contributor is the WSU Ceramics Guild, whose members craft hundreds of bowls for the event.
Usually, around 650 people attend the cook off, and regulars line up an hour before the doors open to make sure they get first pick of the bowls. Lichman said that some people have started intentionally collecting bowls from the event.
“I’ve heard stories from people who say, ‘We’ve replaced all our bowls with Empty Bowls bowls,’” she said.
The cook off will include soup and chili made by around 25 local restaurants and chefs. In addition to the first-time participants listed above, several regular Empty Bowls contributors will be returning, too, including Bella Vita Bistro, Twelve, Tanya’s Soup Kitchen, Doo-Dah Diner, Chicken N Pickle, Vora and Bella Luna Cafe. Great Harvest Bread company and Crust & Crumb from Newton will provide bread. Vegetarian and vegan soup and chili options will be available.
People can pay for tickets with cash or card at the door.
This story was originally published October 20, 2023 at 11:48 AM.
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