Celebrating Asian American Food and Wine, AAPI Food & Wine Is Coming to NYC in March
AAPI Food & Wine, a non-profit organization geared toward uplifting Asian American Pacific Islander voices in food, wine, and agriculture, delivers on its mission by hosting annual festivals in Oregon. The organization’s inaugural event was hosted in 2023 in the Willamette Valley, where it has remained since.
That is until later this year, when AAPI will traverse the continental U.S. — conversations in tow — and put down roots in New York City.
From March 19 to 21, AAPI Food & Wine will introduce its festival to the East Coast with a variety of tasting experiences in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The festival, called AAPI Food & Wine: NYC, was made possible with help from the Visionary Sponsors: The Asian American Foundation, Travel Portland, Visit McMinnville, and VinePair! AAPI Food & Wine: NYC will showcase a lineup of stations set up by AAPI-identifying winemakers, sommeliers, and chefs. As NYC is a global culinary hub, AAPI Food & Wine hopes to highlight Asian American food and wine culture to a wider audience.
“As we take AAPI Food & Wine across the country, we look to spotlight the incredible innovation and culture that is building in Oregon and build connections across the country, and maybe even abroad,” says Lois Cho, founder of the AAPI Food & Wine Festival.
Cho, along with her winemaking husband Dave, helms CHO Wines, which launched in 2020, making the couple the first Korean American winemakers in Oregon. When asked about what informs their palate for wine, their response consistently returns to the food they enjoy — including their childhood favorites influenced by their Korean heritage.
With the passion for Asian American food and wine in her sails, Cho decided to host a potluck to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month and Oregon Wine Month, which coincide in May, in 2023. She envisioned inviting AAPI chefs and winemakers across Oregon. But instead of keeping the celebration to a list of invitees, Cho thought to open it to the public.
From that spark of an idea, Cho put the first festival together in a matter of two months. The event was held in the Willamette Valley and spotlighted AAPI-made wines and AAPI chefs around Oregon, featuring unlikely pairings of the two. The flagship festival is now a sellout, attracting a particularly young crowd even at a time when the rest of the wine industry is trying to do just that.
With the festival, Cho aims to reverse the silencing of AAPI voices in the food and wine industry, which typically sways Eurocentric. Asian Americans have long been integral to the development of agriculture and farming in the U.S., an often overlooked piece of history. Japanese immigrants took up farm labor in the 1800s in Oregon, and Chinese immigrants laid the groundwork for early winemaking in California, such as planting vines and digging cellars.
“By centering AAPI voices in food and wine, we’re not just expanding representation, we’re helping redefine what wine culture can look like when it’s inclusive and rooted in community,” says Cho.
AAPI Food & Wine’s debut festival in NYC includes a three-day itinerary between Brooklyn and Manhattan. The tasting experiences will highlight how AAPI winemakers and chefs are defining the future of the food scene in NYC and beyond.
The event kicks off the evening of Thursday, March 19, when ticket holders will assemble in Brooklyn to taste a Korean American meal accompanied by CHO wines and Korean rice wines by Hana Makgeolli. On Friday, the event will move to Manhattan at the Korean restaurant Atoboy, where James Beard-winning chefs will craft a menu in collaboration with the Atoboy team. AAPI Food & Wine: NYC will culminate at the East Meets West Tastemaker Tour, a gathering of winemakers, sommeliers, and chefs at NARO in Midtown Manhattan. Each will set up stations for participants to stop by and taste as they roam around the space.
Event tickets range from $75 to $225, depending on the event and seating. Ticket sales will go live on Jan. 20. You can get your tickets at the links below:
March 19th Opening Night @ Hana Makgeolli
March 20th Collaboration Dinner @ Atoboy
March 21st Tastemaker Tour @ NARO
See All Events and Tickets Here
“The AAPI Food & Wine Festival embodies what the best events aspire to be. It’s deeply grounded in its community and its purpose, creating a national-caliber platform for AAPI chefs and makers,” says Mike Thelin, co-founder Hot Luck in Austin and Feast Portland.
The ethos behind AAPI Food & Wine: NYC is decidedly different from the motivation for the festival held in Oregon. Whereas the Oregon event is more about experiencing wine country through a different lens and welcoming new and underrepresented audiences into the landscape of Oregon wine, bringing the initiative to NYC means sharing Asian American perspectives and culture with a broader, national audience.
As New York is an epicenter of cultural exchange, the move across the country only seems like a natural extension of AAPI Food & Wine. The festival will offer event-goers the chance to taste the intersection of culture firsthand in the most fitting city.
This article is sponsored by AAPI Food & Wine: NYC.
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