Bon Appétit is hosting a star-studded Instagram Live benefit dinner party (and you’re invited)

Condé Nast’s venerable foodie brand Bon Appétit is taking to Instagram Live to host a benefit dinner party. And you’re invited to drop by. From 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. EDT today, editors from the magazine/website and hosts from BA’s hit streaming cooking shows will be pairing up with stars including Jonathan Van Ness and DeAndre Jordan for various courses of a leisurely dinner party. The virtual event will stream live at the brand’s home on Instagram, @bonappetitmag. The idea is to allow you to, essentially, seat-hop at a fabulous dinner party and cozy up to different twosomes throughout the event as various courses are served. The party is not only an opportunity for Bon Appétit to flex its cultural clout—and highlight the star power of its BA Test Kitchen hosts (whose shows have racked up more than a billion views on YouTube alone)—but a chance for Instagram to draw attention to its new “Donate” button. Though anyone can join tonight’s event, attendees will be encouraged to make donations to support The LEE Initiative, a charitable group that’s been turning restaurants across the country into relief centers. Rachel Karten, associate director of social media at Bon Appétit, is spearheading the event. “It’s clear Instagram Live is having a real moment,” she tells Ad Age. “I think people are craving more personal social content right now, and both the immediacy and rawness of IG Live play into that. We’ve been dabbling with going live but when we heard Instagram was launching a ‘Donate’ fundraising button, we knew we had to go big.” Instagram plans to post a dedicated Instagram Story to its 347 million @instagram followers to promote the dinner party. “We’re seeing the power of food to bring people together more than ever right now,” Lila King, head of news and publishing partnerships at Instagram, tells Ad Age. “And we wanted to channel that passion into something fun and meaningful for the community. We’re so grateful to partner with Bon Appétit and their arsenal of celebrity editors to bring foodies everywhere the live dinner party of their dreams.” She adds that the fundraising aspect of the event will help “put money back into the pockets of restaurants and service workers affected by COVID-19.” Here’s how the party will go down: • 4:30-5:00 p.m.: Kick-off with Adam Rapoport and Chef Edward Lee • 5:15-5:45 p.m.: Drinks with Alex Delany and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend • 6:00-6:30 p.m.: Soup with Christina Chaey and Bowen Yang of “Saturday Night Live” • 6:45-7:15 p.m.: Appetizer with Andy Baraghani and Kiernan Shipka of “Mad Men” • 7:30-8:00 p.m.: Main with Carla Lalli Music and DeAndre Jordan of the Brooklyn Nets • 8:15-8:45 p.m.: Desert with Claire Saffitz and Jonathan Van Ness of “Queer Eye” • 9:00-9:30 p.m.: Digestif with Molly Baz and Instagram’s Eva Chen

Bon Appétit is hosting a star-studded Instagram Live benefit dinner party (and you’re invited)

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