At the 5C Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Night Market on Nov. 19, crowds of students gathered to enjoy foods made by APIDA affinity groups and organizations across the 5Cs. Located in the open field of Walker Beach at Pomona College, tabled booths were set up in two rows as students across the consortium lined up with stamp cards. From popcorn chicken to onigiri, students tried foods from all across the Asia-Pacific continent. Typical of a traditional Asian night market, the 5C Night Market was packed and bustling.
The Night Market was organized by the Taiwanese American Student Association (TASA). It was their second year hosting this event since returning to campus after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Last fall, we hosted the first night market since the pandemic began,” Jennifer Hu SC ’24, co-President of TASA, said. “Before, it was a yearly tradition.”
The night market was a collaboration of 12 student clubs across the consortium and funds from the event were donated to Maui fire relief and Gaza medical relief.
Hu explained the cultural history and context of night markets in Taiwan.
“Night markets are most well known for xiaochi, a category of food translating to ‘small eats,’” Hu said. “They are usually in small portions and enjoyed in informal settings.”
TASA, along with many other APIDA affinity groups, set up booths where students could try all different types of Asian-Pacific foods. Organizations such as the Korean Student Association (KSA), Hui Laule’a (5C Hawai’i Club) and more participated.
The Hui Laule’a booth served hurricane popcorn, gummy bear mixes, spam musubi and P.O.G. (passion fruit, orange, guava) juice. Caitlin Niiya PZ ’26, one of the group’s co-Presidents, described her experiences tabling at the night market.
“It was really nice to see so many people show up for the APIDA night market because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much Asian representation and support in Claremont,” Niiya said.
“Having an APIDA night market means having more authentic Asian food than [what’s available in] the dining halls,” Lee said. “It’s nice to get to know people and bond over food.”
KSA served jumoekbap (Korean rice balls) and ssoteok ssoteok (sausage and rice cake skewers) at their booth. Zoe Park PZ ’26, a KSA board member, expressed her favorite part of the event – seeing the reactions of students trying jumoekbap or ssoteok ssoteok.
“It’s fun to see people at the night market … come up and [get] so excited about trying our food,” Park said. “They’d never heard of it, but they were so excited to try it.”
Attendee Emily Lee PZ ’26 described the experience of sharing Asian food with the APIDA community at the Claremont Colleges.
“Having an APIDA night market means having more authentic Asian food than [what’s available in] the dining halls,” Lee said. “It’s nice to get to know people and bond over food.”
Throughout the event, student groups performed dances and musical numbers. Claremont Tamasha performed a Tamasha dance number and Claremont Colleges Shogo Taiko performed a musical set with traditional Japanese percussion instruments.
“I grew up going to a lot of Japanese and Okinawan festivals and a lot of times people would perform Taiko,” Niiya said. “So it just brought me back to childhood memories.”
Alongside these strong cultural moments, the night market became a strong place of community for Claremont students.
Attendee Evelyn Hao PO ’27 reflected on what the event meant for her as an Asian student at the 5Cs and the value it holds within the Claremont community.
“To me, coming from a super white town in Pennsylvania, the night market represented the diversity of Southern California,” Hao said. “It was so amazing to see so many cultures openly displayed with pride and seeing how many people came out to attend, including non-Asian people, made me feel so much more comfortable.”
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