In Beijing, it’s easy enough to find good restaurants to go to, but only the Beijing Foodies have made it possible to be charitable on a full stomach. Xixi Cheng is the head organizer and founder of Beijing Foodies and every month she puts together a happening culinary event in support of charity. The members of this growing group are a rag-tag gang of young professionals who gather for great meals and even better causes. The Foodies are unique in that they mix food with charity to create an easy and fun way to give back. This band of epicurean philanthropists move from restaurant to restaurant eating and donating, and each month their numbers increase. Xixi indulged Agenda in the magazine's November 18 issue and explained what it takes to host these kinds of events and how we can get in on the action.

Tell us a little bit about the Beijing Foodies events.
At Beijing Foodies, our motto is “Indulge for a Cause.” We host events once a month at sponsoring restaurants, usually on the first Sunday of each month. The main purpose of these little get-togethers is for the group to enjoy a nice, decently priced meal, while catching up with real people and friends outside of a clubbing environment. Additionally, it is also a monthly opportunity to give back a little to society while doing something all of our Foodies love to do – EATING!

What can a first time visitor expect, and how do we get an invitation?
I think anyone who joins us for dinner for the first time would be surprised by how relaxed and fun our events are. These functions are definitely not intended to be networking events, and it’s not about being exclusive. We have a great group, everyone is really friendly and we are all there for the same reasons: to eat good food, have good conversations, and give back to some good charities.

Invitations are mostly done through e-mail right now, but anyone who is interested can give us a shout at bjfoodies@gmail.com. We won’t spam you we promise! We’ll only send you updates on our event plans once a month, just to let you know where and when Beijing Foodies will be meeting.

How did you come up with the Beijing Foodies concept?
People ask me this question all the time! And everyone is always surprised when they hear that it was only supposed to be a one-time thing. I never expected Beijing Foodies to become the regularly meeting, organized group that it has. At the time of its inception, I was extremely busy with work and hardly saw my friends. After the disastrous Sichuan earthquake occurred in 2008, both myself and a large number of friends wanted to donate to the cause. So I thought, why not plan a dinner where we can finally see each other and pool all of our donations together into one lump sum?

And that is exactly what we did. I expected only about fifteen people to show up but more than forty people ended up joining us for dinner! At the end of the event, everyone was asking when the next one was and the rest is history! Now, Beijing Foodies has become something bigger than just a one time dinner and each time the gatherings draw more and more people.

What’s the key to organizing a successful charity event in China?
To be honest, I really do not think of myself as an expert on organizing charity events, even though each of ours has been very successful. I think what makes Beijing Foodies different is that it is really accessible to a lot of people, whether it is because of the price of our meals, the great people that attend, or the easy opportunity to donate to a good cause. I think our events have also been well received because donations are both completely optional and anonymous. We want our members to feel like they have the choice to donate to those causes that are meaningful to them. It is also just an excellent chance to come together and enjoy a delicious meal out with a good crowd of people.

How do you choose your charities?
The process of choosing charities was a little bit difficult in the beginning because I had to do a lot of research and transparency was always an issue. But now, after hosting quite a few of these fundraising events, it has gotten super easy because we get constant referrals from members. It has gotten to the point where we have a long list of awesome causes that we can choose from each month.

Besides donating to the Sichuan earthquake relief efforts, what are some other charities you have raised money for?
We have done so many fundraising dinners that I can’t remember all of the charities off the top of my head. In the past we have donated to such organizations as Bread of Life Bakery/Agape House, Compassion for Migrant Children, Half the Sky, and Prevention through Education, to name a few.

The charity theme changes every month because it gives our members an opportunity to choose which dinners to attend based on the causes they want to donate to. Donations are always optional and I think everyone should always be given the choice to give to the charities they believe in.

How do you set up the deal with the restaurants you work with?
Initially, a lot of restaurants voiced concern when we told them that our meals are usually only RMB 100 and often included one alcoholic drink. Similar to the process of choosing charities, however, this has gotten a lot easier as the group has become larger and more well-known in Beijing. Now, a lot of restaurants know about us Foodies and the price point we set the meals at. It’s great because we also have a lot of restaurants reaching out to us because they too want to host a Beijing Foodies event.

What are your favorite venues for events, and where do you go when you need a break from it all?
Every venue that has hosted a Beijing Foodies event has been amazing and we are always so thankful to them for putting up with our crazy loud group of hungry food addicts.

Personally, I like to try different places, but at the moment I’m a huge fan of ROOM and am obsessed with their whiskey chicken dish. Also, there’s a small Japanese place close to me called Yujiang. Not too many people know about it, but it is a staple for me and my friends. Speaking of which, they probably won’t be happy that I mentioned it here! (laughs)

We just had a gathering at the newly renovated Kagen in the CBD of Chaoyang. We Beijing Foodies were lucky enough to be one of the firsts to try the all of the chef’s new food concepts. It was pretty exciting! The charity theme for November was ‘Foster’ and we sponsored Care For Children.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I want to take this time to say a big thank you to all our amazing food addicts for supporting Beijing Foodies. The only reason our cause is still alive and well is because of our member support. They are the ones who motivate us to plan our events each month! They really deserve all of the credit for how far this group has come. As we always say at Beijing Foodies: Woot Woot!

To read more from the most recent issue of Agenda, download the PDF here. To find a copy, contact our distribution department at distribution@agendabeijing.com with an idea of where you work, live or play and we'll tell you where you can find one near you.