On Friday, April 3, the Asian Pacific Islander Desi in America (APIDA) Night Market gathered Macalester cultural organizations to share food and cultural activities in the lobby of the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center. The event, one of APIDA’s biggest annual celebrations, commemorates Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, which takes place during the month of April at Macalester.
The event brought games and activities, including tinikling, a Filipino dancing game, and bầu cua cá cọp (meaning “gourd crab fish tiger”), a Vietnamese betting game, to campus for all of the Macalester community to experience.
On the second floor, AAPI student organizations served their cultural foods. The Pacific Students Alliance table served pani popo, which are rolls coated in a sweet coconut glaze, while Taiwanese students served braised pork with rice and grilled mozzarella sticks. Next to them, the Japanese Culture Club had yakisoba noodles. The Korean Cultural Organization served Korean barbecue chicken wingswith sides of creamy corn and vegetable fried rice.
The Macalester Association for Subcontinental Ethnic and Cultural Awareness (MASECA) brought chicken tikka masala and rice.
“It’s a super popular South Asian dish, and you can eat it easily,” Tanya Nangpal ’26, a member of the MASECA board, explained. “Since you’re gonna be moving so much, we wanted something that’s also quick and easy for us to give you and for you to eat.”
Nangpal added that she appreciates the opportunity to share South Asian food and experience other cultures’ food in a more personal setting than a restaurant.
“You have a taste of so many different cultures, by people from the [culture],” she said. “So you’re not just reading it off a menu, someone’s chosen this for you who knows the food.”
Jill Chung ’28, who is from Taiwan, highlighted how important sharing food is to her culture. “When we greet each other in Taiwan, we say ‘Have you eaten?’ because food is a way we connect with each other, and a way that we share our love and care for each other,” Chung said.
Andre Mojica ’27, a co-chair of Filipinos at Macalester, introduced pancit and lumpia.
“We chose these dishes because[they are] easily shareable, and Ilove the Philippines’ philosophy of food. The recipes that we have as a culture are mostly meant to be shared,” Mojica said. “Lumpia is really simple to make and really easy to chop up and share with people, and pancit, you can [also] serve to multiple people.”
It has been exciting for Mojica to see Filipino ingredients such as ube become more popular.
“I think part of our mission as an org is immersing people through experiences of Filipino culture,” Mojica explained. “And the best way to do that is through our food.”
For Zoe Pruess ’28, who was manning the Tinikling game, the Night Market is an important way for her to celebrate her identity.
“It’s great for APIDA to pull all of the different Asian clubstogether, especially during AAPI month,” she explained. “I think it’s a great gathering and a great celebration of just being Asian and Asian American.”
