Multicultural Food Festival serves up Chadwick diversity

There wasn’t a more lively booth at the recent Multicultural Food Festival than the Chinese culture booth. Student volunteers served authentic specialties such as Zhajiangmian, lotus root stuffed with sticky rice, Tanghulu, lamb skewers and Mapo Tofu, as visitors were accompanied by the graceful melodies of a traditional guzheng (Chinese zither) performance.

On April 14, the MCFF Team hosted its third-annual K-12 DEI festival, celebrating the varied and vibrant cultures of the Chadwick community through cuisine, music and performances.

Around Pascoe Pavilion, student- and adult-led booths served food from various cultures and countries. Along with providing delicious dishes, booths shared rich, cultural experiences with the community.

The inaugural event was held in 2022 with more than 200 attendees and roughly 50 student volunteers. This year, the numbers jumped to about 90 volunteers and more than 400 attendees.

The booths represented cultures including American Southern, Black, Bosnian, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Latin American Middle Eastern, Spanish and Southeast Asian.

The festival team was superbly led by organizer/founder Caleb Kim, joined by fellow seniors Jane McCann, Sophie Kaneshiro, Lizbeth Lopez and Harry Fang, juniors Ace Saket and Jocelyn Ono, sophomores Lina Gu and Matthew Guo, and freshman Megan Kim.

Caleb Kim aspired to showcase the diversity of Chadwick’s many cultures, raise funds for the school’s DEI initiatives and build community through delectable food-tasting.

“Coming out of the pandemic in my sophomore year, Chadwick had a lot of prevalent issues going on like Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate and LGBTQ-related stuff,” he said. “Seeing the school’s efforts to bring awareness to these DEI issues, I thought it was right to make a change and pitch my effort in as well.”

Seeking to create a positive impact on the campus, Kim found food to be a compelling weapon. “I realized that if we’re shining a light on an issue, and people don’t find it relevant or valuable, they won’t care. I began thinking of a way to bring a positive perspective on a lot of our cultural sides and perspectives. For me, that’s food.

“Once I had the idea, I talked with Ms. Kim Martin, who used to be the DEI head of the Chadwick Parent Assn. From there, I created a pitch and brought it to several affinity groups, the Student Diversity Council and Ms. LaTonya Walker, then-head of DEI. After we got approval from the school and secured a budget, I reached out to the whole school and recruited the other team members.”

The emphasis that Kim tried to make was not just on food, but also on the historical, cultural and social significance that food plays as not just something we eat, but also as a way of expression.

“A lot of memories and experiences are linked to food, so I thought food could be utilized as a tool to make people interested in something and care about it … and to see some of the good parts and why these things are valuably, and why we should be bringing them up and protecting them,” he said.

Kim’s brainchild turned into a mission accomplished. What began as a Middle and Upper School event now expanded its representation to the K-12 community.

“I’m very proud to see the growth of the event, and I’m looking forward to how it’s going to go in the future,” Kim said.

To take it up a notch, the MCFF Team is attempting to become a part of the Global Programs Board next year.

“We’re trying to solidify the event into the school, making sure there’s a structure that allows it to keep going after we all graduate,” Kim said.

The MCFF’s legacy on Chadwick’s campus seems destined to become a monumental force in the school’s advocacy of DEI.

“I think one of the most important elements of making a difference is that it stays there,” Kim said. “When you can embed something, make it a routine, part of what the school is, or what an organization is, I think that goes from a spontaneous effort into creating something for the long term.”

Senior co-founder Lopez shared her thoughts.

“Chadwick is a predominantly white institution, and it’s doing a lot of work trying to integrate more people from various backgrounds into the school to have a more diverse student population,” Lopez said. “This event is our spin and our effort to give more visibility to all of the various cultural groups while bringing joy, vibrancy and flavor.”