Eliyahu Gasson | editor-in-chief

Guests entered the Union Ballroom for the Bite of Asia event, organized by the Asian Student Association, on Monday evening. The event was meant to highlight some of the many cultures from Asia, the largest continent on Earth.

On the menu was pad Thai, a stir-fried dish made with rice noodles, a Burmese chicken curry, Indian samosas and fried rice.

The buffets were led by ASA Secretary Thu Aung, whose aunt owns Royal Myanmar, a Myanmar restaurant in Pittsburgh.

“We wanted to do a couple dishes from different cultures because our event is called ‘Bite of Asia,’” Aung said. “We tried to pick dishes people like and are familiar with but might not have had.”

Teresa Steffens, the president of ASA, acknowledged that it’d be hard to represent every culture in Asia, but that they do their best.

“We try to be as inclusive as possible in all of our events,” she said. “But for these events you really do have to pick and choose. You want to make it as broad as possible.”

Steffens also acknowledged the challenges involved in running an organization with such a broad cultural membership, which can only be successful, she said, through the input of members with different backgrounds than her own.

“I’m Chinese, so I can really speak for my own culture. But, I’m very open to people coming to me and, if they have complaints, working together with them,” she said. “I think that is definitely something that needs to be addressed and I am trying my best.”

With their meals, guests were given red raffle tickets to put toward gift baskets put together by Yumin Jin, the treasurer of ASA. Each had their own theme. Two of the baskets were themed around collectable figurines from Japan: Sonny Angel and Smiski, both of which are sold in “blind boxes” that make it impossible for collectors to know which one they’re going to get.

“They’re really popular with Gen Z, I guess. So I think that would be attractive to a lot of people. And everyone likes blind boxes,” Jin said.

Another basket contained a variety of popular Asian snacks like Poki, shrimp chips and spicy instant noodles.

The competition

London Irish and the other roughly 76 guests spent the night competing in games for the chance to win more tickets to put toward the raffle. The winner of each game would walk away with 10 extra chances to enter to win.

Irish also attended the club’s Lunar New Year festival in January.

“They had some games like ring toss, so hopefully the games will be of the same nature. I can do those,” she said.

After everyone had gotten food from the buffet, the first game was announced by Malka Gendlin, the president of Alpha Phi Gamma, a multicultural sorority at Duquesne. Gendlin would moderate an Asian trivia challenge between three competing teams of volunteers.

Irish didn’t participate in this game because, she said, she didn’t think she knew enough to win.

“Trivia, that’s where you get me. I didn’t really do my homework,” she said.

The trivia battle was fierce, as members of the opposing teams raced to grab a stuffed animal on a plastic table — the organizer’s make-shift buzzer — to answer the questions first.

The next challenge was a spicy ramen competition, where contestants raced to see who could finish a bowl of spicy instant noodles first. Irish didn’t shy away from this one, but also didn’t finish first. On a scale of 1 to 10, she said, the spice level on the noodles were about “six or seven,” too hot to finish. But this wouldn’t be the last game she’d compete in.

“Absolutely I need to win the raffle. I have to,” she said.

The final challenge of the night was a game of musical chairs. Though Irish didn’t get to the stage fast enough for the first round, the organizers decided to do a second round to accommodate demand. Irish got her chance to compete, but lost again in the first lap around the chairs.

After the games finished, ASA executives fished a ticket out of a pile for each basket and read the name on the back. Irish had won the third basket — the Smiski basket.

Irish said she was happy to have won a raffle, and might start her own collection of Smiski figurines.

“I feel great. I loved the whole event. I’m glad I won something. I would still be glad if I didn’t, so it’s amazing,” she said.

The ASA will co-host a Diwali celebration in the Duquesne Towers Common Room in collaboration with the Nepali Student Association on Saturday from 4-9 p.m.

Eliyahu Gasson can be reached at gassone@duq.edu

This article has been edited for accuracy. See changes here.