Other than teaching, coursework, and conferencing, this semester has seen the beginning of SPREAD.
One cold winter evening in Northeast DC, two queer-mixed dumplin’s (who are also housemates) fell into a bout of nostalgia - Where was our Asian and Pacific Islander community? One dumplin is from California and the other has made homes in California, Seattle, and New York. In these spaces, the two dumplins were able to cultivate a strong Asian (and mostly queer) community. As they’ve created a group home and community in DC, they found themselves sipping tea one night and reminiscing on their API community and the delicious food they shared with one another.
Dumplin’ A was sipping some Yogi Ginger tea and, as she always does, read the message on the tea bag.
Dumplin’ A was sipping some Yogi Ginger tea and, as she always does, read the message on the tea bag.
This particular tea bag came with the following words of wisdom: “Live to share”. Dumplin’ A looked at Dumplin’ M. Light bulbs went off. They decided that instead of lamenting about not having a community, they needed to cultivate a space where good people can come together and share good food. The two dumplin’s decided to bridge community and cuisine.
After weeks of deliberation, they decided that the bridge would be: the dumpling. Why dumplings? Dumplings can be found in all cuisines but they go by several different names: the Nepali momo, Puerto Rican pasteles, Indian samosa, Italian ravioli and more (seriously. check out the Wikipedia -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpling). Dumplings are small pieces of dough wrapped around a filling. This concept of an ingredient wrapped in dough can be found in all cultures.
We came up with an idea. Now, came the issue of naming.
After weeks of deliberation, they decided that the bridge would be: the dumpling. Why dumplings? Dumplings can be found in all cuisines but they go by several different names: the Nepali momo, Puerto Rican pasteles, Indian samosa, Italian ravioli and more (seriously. check out the Wikipedia -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpling). Dumplings are small pieces of dough wrapped around a filling. This concept of an ingredient wrapped in dough can be found in all cultures.
We came up with an idea. Now, came the issue of naming.
SPREAD is a recurring dumpling night joining cultural cuisine with community comradeship. In its beginning stages SPREAD will be an intimate gathering of our Asian and Pacific Islander community. Eventually, our dream is to invite other communities to participate in the dumpling nights, but for now SPREAD is an event that makes space for us to talk about our days, our politics, our hobbies, and our quirky API selves.
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