A Chinese dragon dance, Taiko drumming and traditional dishes like Indian samosas and Indonesian satay were just a small sample of what the fourth annual Asian Student Alliance (ASA) Night Market had to offer.
Flavors From All Around Asia
Foods and beverages were “purchased” using a stamp system, with items ranging from two to six stamps. Each card had 10 stamps, making them worth one to three items. These cards were $5 for presale, $7.50 on-site and $10 for community members. There was also a special raffle stamp card for those who purchased an item from every booth. The prizes were a Lego set, snack basket and a Squishmallow.
The 11 booths at the ASA Night Market served traditional dishes and drinks from Indonesia, China, Taiwan, The Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Japan, Korea and the Pacific Islands. Menu items included lumpia and ube puto from the Philippines, Thai tea and pad thai from Thailand, samosas and rasgulla from India, miso soup and wakame from Japan, as well as spam musubi and Li Hing Mui gummy bears from the Pacific Islands.
Two volunteers assist Korean Booth Leader Leni Hong ‘26 at the Feb. 22 ASA Night Market. This booth served tteok-kkochi, Korean fried chicken and dalgona. Photo credit: McKenzie Rose 
The Indonesia booth is set up and ready for customers at the Feb. 22 ASA Night Market. This booth featured nasi goreng, satay ayam, kolak and teh pandan. Photo credit: McKenzie Rose 
Kenzie Rosario ‘26, the booth leader for The Philippines, shares a smile before the Feb. 22 ASA Night Market starts. Lumpia, pancit bihon and ube puto were on this booth’s menu. Photo credit: McKenzie Rose
Alongside the food booths, art student Amy Bui ‘25 sold her handmade pottery at the “Amy’s Ceramics” booth.
With such a variety of countries represented, this ASA Night Market provided the opportunity to expand students’ horizons – one bite at a time.
“It’s awesome, especially because the past few times we’ve done this, a lot of it [has been] food I’ve never had before,” said Tim High ‘25.
“The food is always fire,” said Callie Dixon ‘26. “I swear I’ve been to every booth twice.”
ASA President Tracy Lam ‘25 and Treasurer Jenna Overmeer ‘25 said this year’s most popular dishes were pho from Vietnam, spam musubi from the Pacific Islands, satay from Indonesia, lumpia from the Philippines and Thai tea from Thailand.
Along with taking taste buds on a culinary adventure, these foreign foods offered a taste of home.
“I’m from Hawaii and there’s a Hawaii booth, so I always like to come for familiarity,” said Nandi Fisher ‘26.
All three students said the ASA Night market is one of their spring highlights and they plan to come again next year – except for High, as he will have graduated.
“But who knows? I very well might,” High said.
Performance Time
Booth lines started to dwindle and food production came to a halt at 7:30 p.m. as the ASA Night Market transitioned to its second half of performances.
At 7:40 p.m., the Orange County Dragon Phoenix Lion and Dragon Dance organization presented a Chinese dragon dance. Along with precise movements and jumping, the dragons were “fed” lettuce heads from crowd members, which they then shredded and tossed into the air. This is the third year this group has made an appearance at the ASA Night Market.
After finishing their routine, the dragons led attendees into Memorial Chapel for a series of cultural performances. A procession of flags kickstarted the show, followed by various student and alumni performances, including the Taiko Club and Pacific Island Dance 260 class. There were also performances by community members such as Arista Nareswari, a dancer for the Indonesian Consulate in Los Angeles.
Performances wrapped up around 9 p.m., marking the end of the ASA Night Market. Elaine Talamaivao, an adjunct faculty member and the Polynesian Voyagers of Redlands advisor, spoke about the significance of this culturally diverse event.
“As we look at the future of education and how important our backgrounds and our voices are, events like [the ASA Night Market] at a historically predominantly white institution… brings forth hope. It brings forth truth,” she said. “But it also brings forth actual voices from students whose ancestral backgrounds weren’t really thought of as a community here at the University of Redlands. To see that there are students organizing this event, it means that they are truly the trailblazers for their communities here in Redlands.”
April 2025- Elaine Talamaivao’s name adjusted to reflect preferred name
McKenzie Rose is a freshman at Redlands with interests in Environmental Studies and Journalism. She worked for the last three years as a freelance journalist with the Hermiston Herald, a newspaper near her hometown of Echo, Oregon. She is looking forward to covering the interesting, the exciting, and the intriguing happenings at the university for the Redlands Bulldog!
