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As Emotions Run High in Oakland Chinatown, a Dumpling Class Promotes Asian and Black Unity
The virtual fundraiser comes after a wave of attacks against elderly Asian people in the Bay Area
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Adrian Chang
When Oakland-raised cook Adrian Chang first saw the videos of the violent attacks against elderly Asian people in Oakland Chinatown that have circulated the internet in recent weeks, he felt enraged.
The wave of attacks, including a clip of a 91-year-old man getting shoved headfirst onto the pavement in broad daylight, felt personal for Chang, as they did for many Asian Americans. Just last month, he and Erin Wilkins, the proprietor of Herb Folk, an Asian-American herbalist shop in Petaluma, had launched a yearlong workshop series focused on Asian-American folk traditions and the use of food as medicine a deliberate effort to reclaim those practices’ Asian roots.
For restaurants with the most social media savvy, Instagram serves up the promise of reposted, reshared, and “liked” takeout. One prime example is the Farmhouse Kitchen restaurant group, which has had not one but two smash sensations on the platform in the past year. Farmhouse Thai, with 24,000 followers, has sold 65,000 Little Lao takeout sets, a big colorful platter filled with curries, noodles, spring rolls, and samosas, since the beginning of the pandemic. And Son & Garden, its newest restaurant, already with 12,000 followers, followed with an over-the-top tea-party set, filled with finger sandwiches, pastries, tea, and rosebuds. Fifteen hundred of those have sold so far.
Sliver Pizzeria heads Uptown
Reader Alan G. sent us a tip that Berkeley-based mini-chain Sliver Pizzeria known for its changing daily menu of one vegetarian pizza and one salad has plans for a new location on the ground floor at Alta Waverly apartment complex in Uptown Oakland. He spotted a public notice for alcoholic beverage sales that stated Sliver’s intentions to occupy suite B at 2300 Valdez St. It was posted in September. Nosh contacted Sliver, which confirmed that the new site its fourth restaurant, joining two others in Berkeley and one in North Oakland is still in the works. Sliver CEO Eduardo Perez (brother of Sliver founder Willy Perez, a Cheese Board alum) told Nosh, “We are excited for our new location in Uptown Oakland. We are currently waiting on our final permits. COVID has slowed down the permitting process. Hopefully, we will open by the summer.”
“Have You Eaten Yet?” a zine about the people and food of Oakland Chinatown
In Chinese culture, food is so important to the fabric of life and community, that a common way to greet others is to ask, “Have you eaten yet?” So the phrase is a fitting name for a new zine that focuses on the food and people in Oakland Chinatown. Artists and designers of grassroots initiative Save Our Chinatowns, in partnership with Good Good Eatz, created “Have You Eaten Yet?”, which features bite-sized, well-designed articles on the history of Oakland Chinatown, interviews with notable Oakland residents, restaurant recommendations and other resources on how to support Chinatown business, as well as recipes from the owners of Yuen Hop Noodle Company (for lo mein), Green Fish Seafood Market (for seafood hot pot) and Cam Anh Deli (for lemongrass tofu).