On Monday evening, members of the Philadelphia, Chinese and Mexican communities got together to have dinner with some of the city's Mummers. As the latest in a string of after-hours, invitation-only dinners, they each prepared a dish unique to their culture. A Chinese chef demonstrated how to make pork dumplings, traditionally made for Chinese New Year. The Mummers shared their own New Year's tradition, made with the same meat: an Italian stuffed pork loin. Rocco Gallelli demonstrated how to make an Italian stuffed pork loin.

Chef Dicky Cheung is the former co-owner/chef of Golden Willow Chinese Restaurant in Concord. [...] The good news is that Chef Dicky hasn’t hung up his apron just yet. Since his retirement, he has been volunteering his kitchen mastery “wok-ing” to help various nonprofit organizations raise money for worth causes. [...] The Concord Ambassadors organization was established in 1974 when executives representing Concord and Kitakami, Japan, met in Concord to draw up a charter of lasting friendship between the two cities. 

Rubies, natural gas, pagodas and teak- just a few words of what pops into peoples’ heads when they hear the word “Myanmar.”  Be prepared to add another word to that list; and it’s not one that you would expect. Myanmar coffee has recently traveled to showcase in the London Coffee Festival and the SCA Expo, thanks to U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) who funded a five-year project implemented by Winrock International in the form of the Value Chains for Rural Development.

Visitors of Embassy Chef Challenge can sample authentic cuisines from 35 countries in a single day. One minute they can enjoy salmon ceviche and merquén mussels from Chile, and the next, jollof rice with chicken and fried plantains from Ghana. Adults can taste wines from Bolivia or the iconic gin-based cocktail from Singapore, the Singapore Sling. [...] “It’s a very happy place,” said Red Garcia, the chef representing the Philippines. “Food is like music. We break bread, and we share our culture and values. Everyone brings the best of everything.”

The Chinese Embassy held a cultural show (Chinese cuisine-class), popularizing authentic Chinese food to promote bonds of friendship between the two countries. Chinese culinary art was displayed on the occasion. It was the part cultural diplomacy, promoting people-to-people’s contacts, said Mrs. Diana Bao, wife of Chinese ambassador while speaking at the show as a chief guest. 

For more than 300 years, Spain and Philippines shared a deep history in food. Colonizing the Philippines from 1521 to 1898, the Spaniards brought to the country not only Catholicism but also its cuisine and meticulous cooking methods, something that is still evident in Filipino kitchens, especially during feasts. It’s not surprising to see lechon, paella, [...] during birthdays and Christmases—all of which are adaptations of dishes passed down from Spain to its former colony.

In the United States, home to more than 30 million Mexican Americans, Cinco de Mayo has taken on new meaning. It is a festival of Latino culture. In cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Washington, Cinco de Mayo events are held each year. Americans eat and drink traditional Mexican fare.