On February 21, Asian Society, Chinese culture club Tang, and Korean culture club Hallyu hosted a Lunar New Year dumpling-making banquet that drew more than 100 students and faculty to celebrate the first new moon of the lunar calendar. The evening featured award-winning chef Irene Li ‘08, who co-founded Mei Mei Dumpling Factory—a food truck that has since expanded into a café, factory, and dumpling-making classroom.
For Li, the event, which took place in Elliot Dining Hall, was a return not only to campus but also to a childhood ritual. “A lot of my childhood memories are making dumplings around the table with my mom, her friends, and my extended family,” she explained. “The process at [Mei Mei] is very different from how we used to do it at home, but either way, if you have pork on your hands, you’re not going to reach for your phone.”
Li described her food as a blend of Chinese culture and American taste, noting that her family is “as American as it is Chinese in a lot of ways.” Reflecting on how Milton helped shape her journey, she joked, “My grammar is excellent,” before adding that Milton’s values helped to define her identity and business. Li explained that her time here “gave [her] clarity about who [she is] and what’s important to [her].”
For many East Asian students, Lunar New Year celebrations typically involve family gatherings, which are no longer possible for international students living a plane ride away from home.
Jiayi Wu ‘27, a boarder from Beijing, said that before coming to Milton, she would “have a huge feast where the grandparents and the parents made a lot of food and would play mahjong.” She explained, “I still make food, but obviously it’s different without my family.”
Still, Wu believes Milton is successful in creating celebratory spaces. “It’s different from celebrating with your family, but I think within this huge community, a lot of core aspects of the holiday still stay the same.” The banquet, she added, allows students to experience dishes from both home and other Asian cultures.
In addition to dumpling making, the evening included a poem reading and a Nian monster performance, during which two people dressed as the lion-like beast pranced to a narration of its Chinese folklore origins. The following dinner in the Farokhzad Math Center featured lantern decorations and catered dishes—including Taiwanese, Korean, and Vietnamese cuisine from pan-Asian restaurants. Fried rice, spring rolls, mango sticky rice, and students’ freshly made dumplings were just a few of the available dishes.
Tang Co-Head Jennifer Li ‘26 explained that while “[Asian Society] has been hosting this banquet for a long time,” it only recently began collaborating with the recently formed Tang and Hallyu clubs. Li noted that having a larger team to host the multicultural event was helpful.
For Tobias Kim ‘27, Co-Head of Hallyu, the addition of more clubs has made the celebration more representative of the pan-Asian community. “I went to the banquet in my freshman year, but Hallyu wasn’t a thing yet,” he said. “I still liked the event a lot that year, but I missed that Korean culture element.” He added, “sophomore and junior year, I felt more included and represented.”
Asian Society Co-Head Cattien Huynh ‘26 emphasized the shared commitment that went into the event. “[Everyone] genuinely cares about sharing their culture and learning more about other traditions,” she remarked. For Huynh, the measure of success goes beyond attendance. “I want people to bring their own traditions into it, because that's what makes it so unique. Being surrounded by people eating, having a good time, and getting the meaning of this event is what makes it successful.”