Introducing Eats Meets West

So much of our Asian American Pacific Islander experiences have been defined by food. Our childhoods were punctuated by homemade meals, by the lunches we brought to school that, at times, seemed distinctly foreign compared to our peers’. Our communities revolved around the restaurants and food staples of the area, around what we could find at our local Asian grocery stores that resembled the cuisine our parents remembered from their youths. Ironically, we came to be known by our food as well; how others saw us and our culture seemed inherently tied to the Asian restaurants they had eaten at, or the often oversimplified archetypes of AAPI individuals in television and media.

It should come as no surprise then that Eats Meets West was conceived of over a meal together after Sam and a mutual friend invited the group of us out to try a few Asian food spots around town. What came from those conversations about our favorite dishes, our childhoods in different pockets of the United States, and our cultures was an understanding of how food has molded our interactions with the world and with the cultures around us. Food formed the basis of our communities, our families, and how we perceived our own health and wellbeing. Our constant pursuit of it — in the form of experimenting with recipes, seeking out familiar ingredients, or trying Asian restaurants — makes up just as much of our adult lives as it did our childhoods.

Food also represents our complicated relationship with America as Asian Americans. Just as our cultures and experiences are distinct, so too are our cuisines and how we enjoy them. Yet, that complexity often isn’t reflected in the monolith of Asian America. What is often overlooked too is how food is defined as much by tradition as it is, at times, by the violence of Western imperialism and war. Some of the dishes we came to enjoy were born out of scarcity; others that we enjoyed as children were as much favorites as they were reminders of what had been lost over years of conflict on the Asian continent.

Whether intentional or not, we’re also understood through our food. It’s through food that some people are introduced to our cultures; and equally so, it’s through food that some show their skepticism or disdain for us. Sadly, throughout the pandemic and the rise of Asian hate crimes, AAPI food businesses have been disproportionately impacted by fear and prejudice brought on by the ensuing rhetoric around COVID-19. How our food is perceived, valued, and eaten (or not eaten) is as much a reflection of our own place in America as it is our cultures’.

For Eats Meets West, Open Road is an opportunity for us to give back to our community. By partnering with AAPI entrepreneurs and AAPI-facing organizations in the food sector, we hope to amplify AAPI work and bring more awareness to the importance of food in our communities and culture.

Look for us on the road and Happy AAPI Heritage Month,
Ashley, Sam, Patrick, and Gic
Eats Meets West

Our Team

Ashley Tran

MBA / MA Educational Studies, Class of 2023

Born and raised in Louisville, KY, Ashley is a second-generation Vietnamese Chinese American. After graduating from the University of Chicago with a degree in English, focusing on Asian American literature, Ashley moved to Hong Kong to pursue a career in international education. Her exploration into her cultural relationship with Asia alongside her passion for empowering students with the soft skills needed to succeed in their academic and professional careers took her across Greater China. After working for Schwarzman Scholars and Whittle School & Studios in roles that encompassed curriculum design and program management, Ashley returned to the US to begin her MBA/MA dual degree. Ashley hopes to focus on human capital consulting in the future to create spaces and conditions for individuals to thrive at work.

Gic-Owens Fiestan

MD / MBA / MPH, Class of 2024

Born in the Philippines, Gic immigrated with his family to the US and settled in Orlando, FL. After graduating with a Neuroscience degree from Duke University, he began researching the pathogenesis of epilepsy before starting medical school. Prior to medical school, he was an undergraduate fellow with Accenture mainly working with healthcare clients. Throughout medical school, he developed an interest in physiology and hopes to pursue a career in anesthesia. Going into medicine, he knew that he wanted to focus on innovation and change in healthcare systems so he augmented his medical education with both an MBA and MPH. Gic hopes to practice as a physician and advise in venture investment and creation.

Patrick Nguyen Burden

MBA / MS Design Science, Class of 2023

Born in Las Vegas, NV, Patrick is a second-generation Vietnamese American. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Business Administration and certificates in Entrepreneurship and Human-Centered Design, Patrick worked in the social enterprise space as a co-founder of an ed-tech startup. There he led UX design and digital marketing efforts before becoming a program manager at a non-profit venture studio where he advised community innovators on how to launch products in the market. Thereafter, Patrick worked as a consultant at Deloitte supporting Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, and government agencies on their technology and innovation strategy. With a strong belief that businesses play an essential role in economic development and urban sustainability, and inspired by the war refugee stories of his parents, Patrick is passionate about helping businesses design more equitable products and systems that help empower underserved communities.

Sam Teng

MBA / MS Environment and Sustainability, Class of 2023

Born in New York, NY, Sam is a first-generation Chinese American with Burmese roots. After graduating from Williams College with a degree in Biology, Sam worked as a research technician in a lab studying HIV. She later worked for a healthcare tech startup in roles that encompasses client services, financial analysis, and product management. Sam’s childhood in her parents’ restaurant sampling their dishes cultivated her love of food and, being a former Park Slope Food Co-op member, she is passionate about sustainable, locally sourced food. Throughout her time in graduate school, she has worked on several sustainable food projects including a sustainability benchmarking project with Amazon Fresh, an agricultural diversity, equity, and inclusion project with The Nature Conservancy, and an African seafood loss and waste project with the World Resources Institute and the World Economic Forum. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing and scheming on recipes to reduce food waste.