The tantalizing aroma of food from everyone’s favorite UMBC alumni-founded restaurant, Ekiben, wafts through the air of the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery. People are drawn in by the steamed buns and tofu nuggets and stay for the community, including a Q&A with Ekiben co-owner Steve Chu ’12, economics, and Mark Padoongpatt, associate professor and director of the Asian and Asian American Studies Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The discussion, part of the Reframing Global Asias Conversation Series and led by UMBC’s Global Asias Initiatives postdoctoral fellow Mika Thornburg, dives into Padoongpatt’s book, Flavors of Empire, with Chu providing support using his own experience creating community through food.

Mika Thornburg: Tell us a little about your personal history and how you came to work with food. 

Steve Chu: When my family immigrated from Taiwan to the U.S., most decided to go into the restaurant business. All my aunts and uncles had restaurants at one point in time, so I grew up with it. I understood the work hours behind it, the work ethic. When I was 13, I read Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. I told my mom that this is what I wanted to do, and she was like, “No, you’re going to college.”

So I came to UMBC, studied economics, and every paper I did was about food. I did a paper on Taco Bell, did a paper on Chipotle, and around sophomore year I was like, alright, this is getting kind of silly. So I decided to get my first job in a restaurant and work and go to school full time. That’s when I started diving into this industry and I haven’t really looked back since.

Mark Padoongpatt: Growing up as a Thai American, you get associated with food even if you have no professional relationship to food at all. I didn’t want to perpetuate that stereotype, so I avoided even thinking about food until graduate school. And that’s when I realized Thai people are so visible through food. Thai food comes to stand in for Thai people and there’s really nothing else we know about Thai people.

So instead of talking about the community outside of food, I thought maybe I should just think about that. How did we come to this point where Thai food comes to stand in for Thai people? Since then, I’ve been thinking about food as a very dynamic way to study communities.

Steve Chu ’12, left, and Mark Padoongpatt, right.

Thornburg: Our event theme is about food and community. Can you speak a little bit about your perspective on the relationship between these two things from your respective position?

Chu: Food brings people together. You see that at this event, you see that at Costco with the free sample line. When we opened Ekiben in Baltimore City, we realized that it was a very polarized city, so we built a space where people from all walks of life could come, afford the food, and sit next to someone that they typically wouldn’t be sitting next to. On any Saturday, you’ll have a squeegee kid sitting next to a Jewish grandmother listening to Cardi B on the speakers, eating some fried chicken. It’s things that you normally wouldn’t put together. Food is a really, really powerful tool to build a community.

Thornburg: What role can food play in changing culture and relationships between different groups of people, whether they be individuals, local communities or entire nations?

Padoongpatt: Food culture is incredibly transformative. Just look at European empires. How did they grow? Through food commodities. They created political and economic systems that were around food and food production. And so in terms of nation building, the evidence is all there in terms of the significance of food and the role that food can play.

The Thai government for the last 15 years has been pouring a lot of effort, time, and energy into this through a kind of gastro diplomacy so that more people will come to Thailand. I think it is a great way to stimulate curiosity and human connection, but just the eating of the food itself is not enough.

Chu: What I find really cool is if you grew up in a very diverse community, chances are you’ve had a very diverse group of friends and you’ve tried a very diverse group of foods. And that helps break down walls and allow for understanding and the building of community. One of the coolest things about coming to UMBC was how diverse a group of friends I was able to meet.

After UMBC, I went to New York and worked as a line cook, and I brought back a lot of creativity with me. I sat down with my two future business partners, [Ephrem Abebe ’13, information systems, and Nikhil Yesurpriya ’13, M.S. ’16, biological sciences]. I said, “Hey, bring me all these random ingredients that your moms aren’t using in the pantry.” And so they bring me all this stuff, and over time we just learned how to incorporate it into our core menu. Honestly, there wasn’t a lot of thought behind it—except, “that tastes good.”

Learn more about the Global Asias Initiative and follow along with their events.