A Far Cry From the Usual Hollywood Banquet Feast : Benefit: Oxfam fund-raiser has some dining on rice and water while others eat gourmet chicken.

Hollywood benefit dinners often feature lobster ravioli, goat cheese, empanadas and other improbably exotic foodstuffs. Rarely, though, do guests get nothing but rice and water.

That, however, was the menu for some diners at the fourth annual Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, Thursday night at the Virgin Megastore Complex on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.

The evening was designed to raise money and spotlight the Boston-based group’s 20-year-old crusade against world hunger. As music producer and Oxfam supporter Narada Michael Walden put it, “We are here to feel love for the entire planet.”

The Los Angeles event was just one of six hunger banquets that were held Thursday in various U.S. cities. According to press material, the purpose was to “spotlight the vast disparity between the world’s haves and have-nots.”

Some 250 of the former paid $75 apiece to attend the L.A. fund-raiser, which proved to be part consciousness-raising event, part theater.

Upon arrival, Oxfam supporters drew lots that separated them into three groups designed to illustrate the imbalance of food distribution in the world. Fifteen percent dined on chicken and baby vegetables prepared by Ken Frank of the restaurant La Toque. Twenty-five percent were served beans and rice from communal pots, while the remainder sat on the floor and ate handfuls of rice served in banana leaves.

“I hope I’m in the 60% group, because I could lose a few pounds,” joked actress Valerie Harper, who co-hosted the event along with Jon Voight. Among the other celebrity supporters on hand was Kimberly Aiken, the reigning Miss America, who performed “Enough for Everyone,” an anti-hunger anthem composed by Walden.

Despite the good intentions of the hunger banquets, they have drawn criticism in the past from those who object to the notion of well-heeled individuals mimicking starving people. Though guests had to line up to receive a cup of water, for instance, the water itself was Evian.

Such carping, however, is simply “cynical,” according to Voight.

“Anyone that critical about this effort isn’t here,” the actor said forcefully. “Why don’t those people ever do anything themselves? This is something good. People are making a contribution here. You know, there are many different ways to pray, and I think that we’re gathered here in prayer.”

Among the honorees were the Los Angeles law firm of Munger, Tolles and Olson, which has contributed $140,000 to Oxfam over the years, and actor Lou Diamond Phillips, who received the group’s lifetime achievement award. A keynote address was delivered by National Public Radio commentator Andrei Codrescu.

Local politicians, normally a staple of these affairs, were no-shows, though organizers pointed out that representative Maxine Waters, a member of the hunger banquet honorary committee, attended the Washington event earlier that day.

Despite the entertainment and the glitz, the point of the evening wasn’t lost on attendees, who seemed to enjoy the experience of spending two hours reflecting on the ramifications of famine.

As Aiken, who sat on the floor and ate rice, explained, “A man who had chicken cut it up and came over to share it with us, and that’s what it’s all about.”