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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Entertainment
Jane Corscadden

Belfast's first Festival of Asia to celebrate culture and food traditions next month

Belfast's first Asian food and culture festival is set to take place next month.

The Festival of Asia will be held at Banana Block in East Belfast from 11am to 6pm on Saturday, September 3 with free admission.

There will be over 25 food vendors in attendance on the day as well as live cultural performances and raffle prizes.

Read more: Belfast Mela returns with eight day extravaganza

Event organiser, Nallaine Calvo from Filipino food outlet KUBO, said they're hoping the festival can help people learn more about Asian food and really immerse themselves in the different cultures.

People stopping by on the day can enjoy food from Pakistan, Korea, India, Japan, and Vietnam - including Japanese desserts, Korean corndogs, and Vietnamese coffee. There will also be a host of Asian owned business stalls, including artists and craft makers.

Nallaine said they're hoping it will really showcase the expanding food scene in Belfast and the diverse parts that make this up.

"We really want to make this an educational experience, that's the whole point of it," she explained.

"It's easy to go to your local Chinese takeaway, but it's another thing to actually learn about the culture and ask questions about where the food came from and the story behind it. Some vendors will be dressed in traditional clothing, we'll have a lot of cultural dancing on the day too.

"All of this will be happening in the one place on one day. This will be the first all Asian food and cultural festival in Belfast, covering different aspects of food from the continent.

"It's been really cool watching the food culture in Belfast grow. I've only been here four years and it's just been night and day."

Describing preparing for the event as a "collective effort", Nallaine said it's been great lining up vendors for the day and working with different groups to make it a reality.

"It's been so great working with different people and networking with different groups," she said.

"It's going to be really fun and we're hoping for this to become an annual thing, something that people can look forward to happening. We're really excited for that."

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