In honor of Asian Society’s annual Food Bazaar, bright red and yellow streamers decorated George Washington Hall, as students and faculty members gathered to indulge in authentic dishes from all over Asia.
Saturday’s Food Bazaar was part of the weekend-long Asian Arts Festival, which also consisted of a talent and fashion show, as well as a presentation by Yul Kwon, 2006 “Survivor” winner.
“Kids are really enjoying themselves and there’s lots of great homemade food that [students] have spent all day cooking and preparing. So it’s nice for people to be able to sample a wide variety of different Asian foods,” said Aya Murata, Advisor to Asian and Asian-American Students and Asian Society’s Advisor.
Andover Korean Society (AKS), Andover Japanese Connection (AJC), Chinese Taiwanese Student Association (CTSA), IndoPak, as well as individual students, representing Cambodia, Singapore and Thailand and other countries, participated in the Food Bazaar.
In addition to food stands, the bazaar also featured a Henna booth, an origami table and a calligraphy station. The Henna booth was a new addition to the Asian Arts bazaar this year and attracted long lines of people.
Proceeds from clubs’ food sales benefited individual clubs, while the money from independent sellers went to Asian Society.
The assortment of food and drinks sold at the bazaar ranged from Chinese dumplings and Korean Galbi, to Thai Iced Tea and Indonesian coconut drink.
“The food here is really good. I’ve mostly just been eating sushi by the buckets,” said Melanie Oliva ’14.
Many food stands, such as those of AKS and IndoPak, sold out within the hour.
“[The Food Bazaar] turned out really well. We’re actually wiped already and it’s not even 6:30. So I’m actually worried about having enough food! It’s gone pretty well every year,” said Supriya Jain ’12, head of IndoPak.
Seyoung Lee, President of Asian Society, said, “This year we have really diverse types of food–a lot of south Asian and southeast Asian foods. A lot of clubs sold out [quickly] and they made a bunch of food, so I think it’s been really successful this year.”
Murata said, “It took a lot of varying parts and different communities working on different things–from the dinner we had in commons on Tuesday, to this event, to the talent and fashion show, to the education committee and the public relations committee. Lots of different people [are] working on different facets of the program.”
