Photography by: Stephanie Porter + Christy Lum

A racist remark hurled at Canadian local photographer Gina Chong in Coquitlam Park during the pandemic sparked inspiration for her to start Asian Arts & Culture Society and to dream up the very first dumpling festival in British Columbia. Bringing together thousands of people from different cultures and walks of life, she used the dumpling as a thread to celebrate the commonalities between cultures, and that like all Canadians who have diverse heritages, share more in common than we think. The dumpling is often viewed as an exclusively Asian food type, but in fact it is found in other ethnic cuisines with the same generational spirit — just with a different name, such as perogies and ravioli.