FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Kenny Importante, kimportante@arizona.edu & Feng-Feng Yeh, fengfeng@ciaodowntown.com
March 28, 2024, Tucson, AZ — How does the sausage get made? A question often posed by Chef Feng-Feng Yeh, creator of the Chinese Chorizo Project, could be answered—by many hands.
Two University of Arizona campus cultural centers, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs (APASA) and the Guerrero Student Center (GSC), join forces with Chef Yeh, Arizona Student Unions, and the Asian Pacific American (APA) Faculty Network to cook up A Recipe for Solidarity to celebrate the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Month on campus. Highlighting Chinese Chorizo as one such “recipe for solidarity,” the event features a cooking demo for UArizona students, open mic campus mixer, and pop-up menu at Cork & Craft.
Chinese Chorizo as an ingredient and symbol of intersecting foodways highlights a past of Mexican and Chinese immigrant solidarity and the closeness of the communities, when constrained by housing discrimination elsewhere they lived closely together in downtown Tucson. Many Chinese groceries found a niche serving its local community, sustaining and sustained by Mexican families, spawning the creation of “Chinese” chorizo, prior to a shared displacement by urban renewal.
“The act of bringing Chinese Chorizo back is one of community love and care,” reflects Chef Yeh on the project: “By actively engaging our community to work collectively, we are able to form true bonds. When we work together, we are able to accomplish more in service to our community, and this one happens to be a very delicious service! Most importantly, through these collaborations, we are able to see each other’s humanity: to recognize and restore the historical erasure POC, immigrants, and marginalized people have experienced.”
GSC Director Dominique Calza notes the project’s particular resonance for students, “As a Cultural & Resource Center serving Latinx students, it is important to us to highlight and uplift the spirit of solidarity present in the shared histories and experiences of our communities to not only amplify our voices and enact meaningful change together but to also join in celebration and shared visioning.” 1 A Recipe for Solidarity kicks off with a Zongzi/Chinese Tamale Cooking Demo with Chef Yeh in the Student Union’s Culinary Studio (2:00 PM–4:00 PM). Students from the APIDA- & Latinx-serving cultural centers will learn about the Chinese Chorizo Project’s history and prepare the food together with the project’s namesake ingredient. Bearing resemblance to family traditions of making and eating holiday tamales, zongzi are also wrapped in celebration of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival and remembrance of a Chinese poet–scholar, according to folklore.
The event continues with a Chinese Chorizo Pop-Up and open mic with Chef Yeh and the APA Faculty Network at Cork & Craft featuring “solidarity specials,” shareable bites made with the key ingredient (4:30 PM–7:00 PM). The open mic and mixer inaugurates the APA Faculty Network at UArizona by sharing recipes for solidarity and inviting the campus community to read their own—bringing together diverse faculty & staff affinity groups and colleagues, many of which have supported the formation of the APA Faculty Network over meals and meetings.
“As we form this newest faculty affinity group, celebrating solidarity is at the heart of our vision— to create intersectional coalitions with our colleagues who supported our hopes to build community and recognize AAPI contributions on this campus and in the Borderlands,” shares Assistant Professor Dr. Jacqueline Barrios, an organizer of the network. What is a dish, an enigmatic ingredient, a food story, or memorable meal that represents the concept of solidarity to you? Or, going beyond food—what are the “ingredients” and “directions” for creating, serving, sharing, and experiencing solidarity? Curious diners are invited to take part at Cork & Craft in the UArizona Student Union Memorial Center and taste the celebration through the month of April, with two Chinese Chorizo solidarity specials, including a vegan & gluten-free option, on the menu while supplies last.
A Recipe for Solidarity celebrates the expansive work and community-building of AANHPI Heritage Month—one that reminds that AANHPI visibility, voices, contributions, and connections with others are crucial to both campus and public life. “The student body and campus community have planned numerous events to spotlight the diverse AANHPI community,” shares Kenny Importante, Director of APASA: “Anticipation is high among students as they eagerly await this celebration in creating a sense of belonging and validating their cultural and ethnic identities.”
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is celebrated at UArizona in the month of April and nationally in May. APIDA is an abbreviation for Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi Americans used by APASA and other student-serving centers around the country. For more public events being hosted by student organizations, campus partners, and APASA visit: https://apasa.arizona.edu/apida-heritage-month.
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