Richmond’s first Asian street food festival brings cultures, flavors to one lot

Rachel Nicholas, Contributing Writer

Answer Brewpub’s parking lot was filled with flavor on Nov. 8 as friends and foodies gathered for Richmond’s first-ever Asian street food festival, organized by the Asian American Society of Central Virginia. 

As the vendors opened their lines for business, hungry customers perused the various styles and cuisines from different countries being served by cooks of all ages and backgrounds, while a mix of cultural music surrounded the event. 

From an expansive array of Korean barbecue spread out in buffet style to Nepalese Momos packed with spices and flavors enhanced with live fire, each stall had something for everyone. 

The event was designed to highlight the work of smaller Asian communities, according to AASCV vice chair Tin Myint. 

“This is a good platform for countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Burmese, Thai and Laos to showcase their food,” Myint said. “Larger communities have their own events, so this is really helpful for a smaller community.”

Myint, a VCU alum, said the active use of grills and fire was meant to be the main focus of the festival.

“Our traditional event is indoors with no live cooking,” Myint said. “We have challenges about serving drinks because of regulations, but a bunch of us have been talking about expanding for years to doing outdoor events.”

The AASCV has held a big flagship event every May in celebration of Asian Heritage Month for over 27 years. They have been mostly indoors.

The festival on Saturday served as a test run for a different type of event that catered to a different demographic, Myint said.

“We want to bring in a variety of folks who attend the events,” Myint said. “We normally see families, younger kids with activities and elderly folks who enjoy their culture. So we’re trying to bring in younger folks, professionals, etc.”

Richmond resident Diamond Banks said she saw an advertisement for the festival on social media, and decided to go as a lover of Korean food.

“I think [the diversity] is nice,” Banks said. “I love the different cultures and foods. It’s not just one particular part of Asia, but all over and that’s really cool.”

The lines stayed long as the day progressed. The visibility for each culture was more than what was hoped for, vendor Rainy Wang said.

“I want people to know more about our traditional drinks and Taiwanese culture,” Wang said. “We’ve only been here six months, but this event is helpful to let more people know about our shop and our food.”

Wang, who ran the Ben Wong’s Tea stall, was approached by Myint only a couple of days before the event. The cafe has locations in both Midlothian and Richmond, so Wang said she was excited to participate in a local festival.

“I’ve been to many Asian festivals like this before,” Wang said. “So I am always interested in these events, so when he told me about this, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll definitely be there.’”

With the success of its first street food festival, the AASCV looks ahead to more opportunities to continue celebrating the rich cultural diversity of Asia — one dish at a time.