I Ate My Way Around the Asian Festival

You don’t expect Columbus to be such a multicultural city since we are smack dab in the middle of Farm Country. However, we have a very large international population because of Ohio State University and the nearby Honda assembly plant. Our Asian grocery stores are just as a good or better than the Asian grocery stores I visit in Chinatown in New York City.

All of that becomes to one big wonderful weekend of food, culture, and performances at the Columbus Asian Festival.

I eat a lot of Asian style food. I was heavily influenced by a trip to Japan and Hong Kong and started learning and experimenting as soon as I got home. It’s healthy (depending upon the ingredients of course), fairly inexpensive because it’s generally a little of this and a little of that as opposed to the American meal of big hunk of meat, big pile of starch and maybe some vegetables. I also like that most Asian food is quick. I likes me a quick meal.

I always appreciate the cultural exhibits. Blitzkrieg liked the Japanese tea house in the children’s area the best.

Photo courtesy of my other blog Condo Blues

Of course Blitzkrieg comes with us! He’s always a hit with the Chinese culture booth. They laugh with us when we say our Pekingese attends the Asian Festival so he can learn about his culture. Mostly he floors surfs for rice balls.

Based on the reactions Blitzkrieg got this year, he thinks they changed the name to The Pekingese Festival. Being a Lion Dog, he thinks they did the Lion Dance just for him.

 

Photo courtesy of The Asian Festival

But let’s get to the real star of the show – the food!

We bought a bag of our favorite green tea cookies. They didn’t last very long once we got home.

Photo courtesy of my other blog Condo Blues

The best part of the festival is the food court. You won’t find any McAsian chain style restaurants or stands here! If there is a restaurant booth it’s from a locally own restaurant and more than likely the owner has a hand in the cooking.

My favorite food booths are those run by local Asian groups as a fundraiser. They have everyone's favorite family recipes to choose from and make only the best!

 

How do you choose?

Our plan was to sample a wee bit of this and that. The plan was derailed after I got this huge plate of noodles, teriyaki chicken, and spring rolls at my first booth!

It was so much food I had to share it with Husband

Then we tried scallion pancakes made with rice flour. Crispy and oh so good!

Yum!

The big question is, how do I make a scallion pancake? Any ideas?



Did you like this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Lazy Budget Chef RSS feed or by subscribing to Lazy Budget Chef by email.