Renee Wang says her sense of cultural belonging at Cal Poly didn’t come from the lecture halls. Instead, the public health sophomore spent hours creating sesame sauce from scratch with fellow members of the Taiwanese Cultural Organization. But they had a problem.
To make the sesame noodles and honey-lemon aiyu jelly she grew up with, the Taiwanese Cultural Organization had to find authentic sesame paste that local San Luis Obispo supermarkets don’t carry.
“We really just wanted to find something that kind of aligned with our culture,” Wang said.
This is where the SLO Asian Market steps in. For 36 years, the market has been a staple for Cal Poly’s Asian students and cultural events. Founded by Meng Gau and Sim Khoy, who noticed the lack of Asian food in San Luis Obispo.
The shop is now run by their son, Peter Gau, and his wife, Fani Gau. Fani said the market has been supporting Cal Poly students from all over Asia, whether they want to make a sushi bake or a Vietnamese dessert. The Asian Market serves as the center for Cal Poly’s cultural club members to stock up on ingredients and seek advice when making dishes.
“They’ve probably seen it at home [when] their parents make it, but they might not know exactly what type of rice or what type of ingredients,” Fani said. “I tell them the days that we get fresh things or the things that they can add to their dishes. So, that’s kind of cool.”
Fani said student organizations often visit the store and place large orders for their food events, such as the recent annual Lantern Festival, hosted since 1994 by the Asian-interest sorority Chi Delta Theta.
Fani noted that the Japanese Student Association recently came in to shop for the event. The festival features cultural performances and food vendors from Cal Poly’s cultural clubs, to celebrate the commencement of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Beyond East Asian cultures, clubs of varying cultures emphasize food as the center of their bonding experiences. Lindsay Minami, a computer science junior and president of Hui o Hawai’i, said the food is the club’s greatest appeal. At the festival, the group sold spam musubi and shaved ice, and performed traditional Hawaiian hula under their group Hui Haumana.
“We’re meant to be a home away from home,” Minami said. “Most of our board is from Hawai’i, but we’re not exclusive to that. We’re welcoming to everybody.”
Dylan Tran, anthropology and geography senior and co-president of the Multiracial Students Association, chose to sell dumplings and tea to try and encompass the cultural variance within their club.
“I think for a lot of multi-racial, biracial people, they struggle with identity, [which we] talk a lot about, especially at meetings,” Tran said. “It’s a space for people to share about themselves.”
Although the Lantern Festival began as an event celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage, several Latin American groups also sold food at the event. Lambda Theta Phi, a Latin-interest fraternity, sold bacon-wrapped street dogs at the festival, which Bryan Castillo, business administration junior and member of the organization, said gave him a taste of his hometown of San Jose.
Castillo said that to him, the cultural backgrounds of the participating members at Lantern Festival didn’t matter. He said this philosophy has expanded within his organization, which has previously included Vietnamese and African-American members.
“It’s nice to be included,” Castillo said. “At the end of the day, we’re all minorities.”
Wang and the Taiwanese Cultural Organization’s hours of preparation and quest for the right ingredients are just one example of solidarity among the cultural clubs of Cal Poly. While the Lantern Festival is one of Cal Poly’s largest cultural celebrations of the year, the work to build a diverse and inclusive community never stops.
Although the events honor their heritage and past alumni, these organizations bonded over the central joy of food. In a town where diverse ingredients are hard to find, Cal Poly students feel that if they cannot find a cultural hub, they will cook one themselves.
