Asianati, the nonprofit organization promoting Asian food and culture across the Cincinnati region, hosts the 13th annual Asian Food Fest downtown on April 27-28. Produced by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, the event’s footprint is even larger this year, with more food vendors, entertainment, and family activities.
Organizers have signed up 66 vendors, food trucks, and bubble tea shops to spread out along Court Street between Main and Elm streets and added two surface parking lots for music and activities.
Community cultural groups (pictured) will entertain throughout the Asian Food Fest. There will be main music stages at both ends of Court Street, with smaller performances and roaming entertainers scattered throughout the Court Street Plaza area.
This year’s festival will have even more of a taste of home, with eight amateur cooks and nonprofit groups serving home recipes at a “secret menu” booth. The pop-up format will offer lots of small-batch cooking that’s expected to sell quickly.
Co-founded by Koji Sado (Procter & Gamble) and Bao Nguyen (restaurant owner) in 2010, Asianati is a self-described “group of friends whose experiences as Asian Americans are as varied and unique as the foods we crave.” The organization’s annual Asian Cuisine Week in January included more than 50 restaurants throughout the region.
