Each year, there is a food festival hosted in Markham, known as the Taste of Asia. This is a multicultural event where people of various cultural backgrounds come together and celebrate the harmony and diversity of Asian culture and Asian cuisine in Canada. 

This year, 2022, the Taste of Asia festival will be available in person. This gives a breath of fresh air after years of virtual events that can only take place at home, due to the long quarantine caused by the COVID pandemic. Virtual events certainly have their own magic, of course. However, something in person where we can get in touch with one another is certainly a need for many after the dreadful dark times of the COVID pandemic.

So, what is the Taste of Asia all about? Let’s take a look!

About The Taste of Asia

Taste of Asia is an annual food festival event hosted by FCCM. The FCCM is a non-profit organization dedicated to integrating the Chinese Canadian communities into the mainstream of Canada. It hosts many non-profit events for both the services of Chinese communities, as well as sharing and promoting Chinese cultures to the entire country. The Taste of Asia is the most well-known example of such.

The Taste of Asia food festival was introduced in 2003 for the very first time. The food festival served as a platform for Asian communities in Canada to promote multiculturalism, and to create and develop multicultural harmony amongst the different Asian cultural groups. Furthermore, 2003 was in the midst of the SARS outbreak, so the food festival was a means of boosting the local economy in the York region. 

For both purposes, the Taste of Asia succeeded. But more importantly, it opened up an opportunity for Asian communities to share their culinary cultures to the rest of Canada, further making Asian cultures an inseparable part of the country. 

Ever since 2003, the event has become a recurring event that takes place each year.  And this festival would increase in cultural significance and relevance as it gained more and more support and positive publicity. Supporters and sponsors of the festival include governmental organizations (including the government of Canada), corporations and brands, and iconic celebrities.

Such positive reception reinforces the significance that Taste of Asia contributes to fostering a multicultural environment. After years of consistent efforts, the Taste of Asia festival now has an average of 150 vendors and booths, 650 volunteer positions, and 200,000 visitors every year. 

Even though Chinese cuisine took up most of the vendors initially, as the years passed, more and more different cultures joined in, such as foods from Japanese, Korean and Thai culture. (Pictured below are Macha ice cream in moe style and Thai tea.)

More than everything, Taste of Asia is a celebration of culture and cultural diversity and harmony. It’s a time of appreciation, fun, and mutual respect amongst various different communities. No matter our cultural or ethnic backgrounds, we can all come together and enjoy a wonderful time, all the while freely expressing our culinary cultures.

Taste of Asia 2022

The 2022 food festival will be the 20th anniversary of Taste of Asia. The festival for this year will begin on June 24 and end on June 26th, lasting a total of 3 days, and will take place on Kennedy Rd. of Markham, Ontario. As mentioned before, this event will be in person, a much needed reunion for all of us after years of pandemic lockdown and separation. 

Witnessing the Multicultural Canada

It’s worth mentioning that the magic of Taste of Asia is that the event is multicultural. This event is not just for the Asian cultures and communities, but also for the rest of the Canadian population. This festival is a reminder that the cultures and communities of visible minorities are a crucial and inseparable part of the Canadian population, and by extension, the markets in Canada.

What does this mean for brands, businesses, and organizations?

It means that the environment is a mosaic of diverse cultures and ethnicities, and we should all be aware of this, especially brands. 

And this should be reflected towards the media and materials that brands put into the public. This doesn’t just mean inclusion. It also means connection. Taste of Asia has been an excellent way to connect Asian cultures with the rest of the Canadian population, and people absolutely love it. And brands can do the same with multicultural marketing that puts various cultures into consideration.

In fact, there are even multicultural marketing agencies that are specifically dedicated to multicultural marketing strategies. Multicultural marketing agencies specialize in crafting the campaigns that best suit visible minorities. They do an excellent job at connecting your brand with all the various cultural groups. There are lots of multicultural agencies in Canada willing to provide consultations and assistance to help create a community where cultures connect more firmly with each other!

Thank you so much for reading this article! Please stay tuned for more news and insights about multiculturalism and multicultural marketing! If you would like any help or assistance in multicultural marketing, please make sure to check out our services. We are DV8.