Asian Culture Celebrated at Annual "Feast"

Fourteen student groups showcased their cultural cuisines and talents to a packed audience at the Asian American Association’s Feast in Quincy dining hall Friday night.

The annual event brought together members from the entire Harvard community in a display of pan-Asian and Asian American culture through traditional dishes—such as banh cuon, pakoras, and gyudon—and performances ranging from traditional Chinese and Philippine dances to rap battles and hip hop medleys.

The night began with attendees sampling food from booths hosted by different Asian cultural organizations on campus, including the South Asian Association and the Harvard Vietnamese Association.

Afterwards, audience members viewed live performances of taekwondo and beat boxing, with Claudine S. Cho ’15 and Kevin Liang ’16 serving as the night’s emcees.

“It was really exciting,” Robert S. Deng ’17 said. “The Asian American culture at Harvard is so diverse so if someone like me wants to connect back to my roots, it's very easy to through events like this."

The enthusiasm of the crowd was matched by the energy of the performers.

“It’s totally exhilarating,” said Hanling Petredean ’15, who is a member of Wushu, a club devoted to contemporary Chinese martial arts.

In the two weeks leading up to the event, Petredean said Wushu practiced their routine three times a week.

“It's so much fun to share all of your hard work in a community as diverse as this," she added.

Initial planning for the feast began in the summer and picked up speed as the Asian American Association's cultural co-chairs Shannen D. Kim ‘15 and Dominick Zheng ’16 reached out to organizations and individuals a month before the event.

“A big challenge was finding the individuals and asking them to come out and perform,” Kim said.

According to Kim, the group strived to represent the diversity of all the Asian countries during this year’s event.

“What I’ve noticed is that cultural groups are really good communities within themselves, but sometimes they can become insulated, and they don’t have much interaction with other cultural groups on campus,” Kim said. “Asian American Association, as the umbrella organization for all the Asian organizations on campus, is in the position to unite the whole Asian community.”

Zheng echoed Kim’s remarks and said that he hoped to see more involvement from the cultural groups themselves in the future.

“A lot of the cultural groups provided food and support, but it would be pretty great to see these groups talking to their members, encouraging them to perform and discover their own talents,” Zheng said.

However, with nearly 250 people packed into Quincy dining hall, Kim and Zheng said that they were extremely pleased with the outcome.

“When you’re actually there at the event, seeing all the people you’ve been emailing and calling…on stage, with the music right, [and] with the crowd completely enthralled, it’s an amazing feeling,” Zheng said.