I am often asked what I miss most about cooking in New York. Truth be told, there isn’t a whole lot. I may gripe about local wine and cheese prices as much as the next guy, and lament how veal bones are surprisingly scarce, but the reality is that life here is pretty good. I rarely do my own laundry, my restaurant is above water (fingers crossed) and I have a smorgasbord of cheap eats when I get off work after midnight. Honestly, the thing that I miss the most is the variety of gourmet tasting events that proliferate on the New York dining scene.

Culinary events like City Harvest and Taste of New York, where restaurants unite behind a single cause and serve tasting portions of their menus coupled with great wine and drinks, were always highlights. As cliché as it sounds, they’re a real win-win for all involved.

Not only do they raise awareness of a great cause, they also raise a ton of money for it. While I’m always happy to donate cash, as a chef I’m even more excited to donate my food and time in the hopes of effecting more change than I could alone.

For the consumers, it’s a treat. You get a cornucopia of top restaurants dishing up a limitless array of culinary bites coupled with sponsored booze. How can you go wrong? After a few rounds tasting the rainbow it’s easy to camp out in front of your favorite booth, wine glass in hand, and while the night away.

For restaurants and chefs, culinary events are a break from the norm, which is something I’ve always appreciated. Working out of a small kitchen, even if the kitchen is your own, can sometimes lead to a bit of cabin fever and the chance to go out and cook in front of your guests with peers all around is a hard thing to pass up. My standard practice is to prepare a few extra orders of whatever we’re cooking and run around to different booths to do a bit of old school bartering. If I play my cards right, I come back laden with different foods from all over and, if I’m extra charming that day, a few glasses of vino to wash it down with too.

This isn’t to say that Shanghai has no culinary events of its own, but there could and should be more of them. I’ve heard great stories about the Too Many Chefs event that used to be held here. To this day, some of my closest Shanghai industry friends were the ones that I met during the Frexh event last year. Some of you may have even met me during our recent ’Hai Five event.

I feel like the golden age for food events are just around the corner, so all you non-profit workers with organizational skills and a masochistic streak, plan it and I promise―we will come.

When Austin Hu isn't busy writing City Weekend's The Dish blog, he runs things over at Madison. Check out more of his articles here.