How the Asian Food Collective harnesses the power of community in Philly

On most Saturday mornings, there’s a bit of hidden magic happening in the kitchen at the Old Pine Community Center near Fourth and Lombard streets. The Asian Food Collective turns the kitchen into a cultural hub by cooking all kinds of Asian cuisines together. For the collective’s members, cultural exchange through food brings an element of joy in building community. Plus, they get to feed their Philly neighbors while they’re at it.

“If you’re alive, you eat. If you eat, you deserve food,” said Hanna Kim, founder of the Asian Food Collective. “I feel like something that I try to cultivate in this space is a community of care. So something that I really emphasize is, when we are cooking together, I want you to eat the food.”

Kim said she was homesick when she moved to Philadelphia in 2019 and wanted to learn how to cook Asian food. Her involvement in the South Philadelphia Community Fridge sparked the idea to start the Asian Food Collective. While Kim said there are many nonprofits that do a great job at feeding their neighbors, she recognized that there was a need for more accessible Asian cuisine and a shared desire among community members for meaningful cultural exchange.

Since its founding in 2023, the volunteer-led group has served thousands of meals, usually cooking around 40 meals a week for distribution to South Philly community fridges. Volunteer drivers most commonly drop off meals in front of the Bok Building, the People’s Kitchen, and at Ninth and Ellsworth streets.

“I really like working in a kitchen environment where, you know, we’re just kind of playing around with each other, but still in a way that can produce a product that serves the community,” said Sabrina Abesamis, one of the Asian Food Collective’s earliest volunteers.

Volunteers for the weekly cooking sessions are capped at 10 a week. So far, around 200 people have joined as volunteers. The group is funded through grants and individual donors, so volunteers who shop for ingredients are reimbursed. Ideas for meals are shared through a Google form and Discord chat.

They source their ingredients from local Asian markets such as Hung Vuong and 1st Oriental in Little Saigon and Heng Fa in Chinatown and try to ensure that the organization represents Asian communities that are overlooked.

“Something I noticed is that whenever we talk about Pan-Asian communities, it’s very East Asian-focused. So it’s really cool that the Asian diaspora is so big that even amongst ourselves, we haven’t cooked or eaten a lot of food from different areas,” Kim said.

While they don’t have the same capacity for mutual aid as fully staffed organizations, there’s also an emphasis on the political aspects of food and history.

“Food is political on all levels, from the start of farming food, policies that affect our farm systems and farm workers, down to who has access to food and then the ability to cook food,” said Kim.

For Black History Month, the group cooked yakamein, a New Orleans comfort food consisting of noodles (traditionally spaghetti) in a beef broth seasoned with Cajun spices, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. The meal is a result of cultural exchange between Chinese immigrants who came to build railroads and the Creole Black community in that area.

The group has also partnered with the Ginger Arts Center in Chinatown and the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance (APIPA) for an event called Dumplings for Democracy, where participants cooked dumplings and learned more about the upcoming municipal election and general information about each office. APIPA also helped with voter registration and updates.

Outside of the kitchen, the Asian Food Collective has also been a space where members can share joy during uncertain times. Volunteers stressed the importance of community after the difficulties that Asian people faced during a spike in anti-Asian violence at the height of the pandemic. Now, post-election fears around immigration policies, ICE raids, and another wave of anti-Asian violence remain top of mind among the community.

“We had a Thanksgiving potluck, and we all went around the table and talked about what was bringing us joy and what was bringing us hope,” said Sirianna Arathi, who has volunteered for the past seven months. “There was this beautiful moment of this community sharing food and meals from our different cultures together [from inside] and outside of the kitchen. And it was just so sweet.”

For the Asian Food Collective, food isn’t just food. It’s a way to build community and wield power through education and sharing during a precarious time for the Asian community.

“People don’t give us these spaces. We create these spaces,” Kim said. “I think a lot of times people will wait for something to happen. So I think like just taking that, seizing that moment, to create the space for us and by us.”

Asian Food Collective will celebrate its two-year anniversary on April 26 at Old Pine Community Center. Follow the group’s Instagram @AsianFoodCollective for more information.