The ordinarily calm GW mailroom transformed into an animated, aromatic Asian food bazaar on Saturday, from 5:30 to 7:00pm. Blue and orange balloons floated on posts throughout the mailroom, Korean pop music blared from iPod speakers and Asian Society members hawked food from almost every corner of Asia behind white tablecloth tables laden with buffet-style dishes they had been cooking all day. Chinese Taiwanese Student Association (CTSA), Andover Japanese Connection (AJC), IndoPak, and Andover Korean Society (AKS) were all represented. Each club had an individual table with food from their respective countries. CTSA’s dumplings, IndoPak’s mango ice cream and AKS’s kalbi (barbecue beef) were among the most popular dishes of the evening. Individual dishes cost between 25 cents and $1.75, and the proceeds went to each club’s budget. Almost all of the food was sold out by 6pm, but some students were put off by the prices. Daniel Moroz ’11 said, “I don’t like how each tiny thing costs a separate price, instead of one big platter.” Maya Odei ’12 suggested that the clubs “should have brought more of the more popular foods, like dumplings.” After most of the food was gone, students turned to some of the games set up near the entrance. There was an origami table, and a few kendamas, the familiar Japanese toy that looks like a hammer with a ball hanging from it by a string. A nearby television was playing a tutorial video, showing small children who seemed to have already mastered the technique of swinging the ball up and catching it in the depression of the hammer head. Aiko Krishna ’09, co-head of Andover Japanese Society, said, “I think [the event] went really well. I think it helped that the bus that took kids to see the Dalai Lama in Boston got back right around when we started.” Aya Murata, Advisor to Asian and Asian American Students and Asian Society’s Faculty Advisor, attributed the success of the event to the students involved, saying, “It’s a real group effort. The kids were here for about four or five hours beforehand setting up, and it takes many hands to clean up afterwards as well. This is the day that is most kid-involved, kid-focused and labor-intensive.” She continued, “I see Asian Arts as the conglomerate of all the events we’ve sponsored this past month, including this weekend. My goal over these past years has been to expand Asian Arts so it’s more of an all-encompassing means of sharing Asian and Asian-American issues, history and culture with the Andover community.” The Food Bazaar was a delicious addition to the long list of fun and illuminating activities that made up one segment of the Asian Arts weekend.
