Authentic cuisine contains a key ingredient for connecting cultures, according to Lawrence Lair, a graphic designer with University Marketing and Communications and the secretary for AsiaConnect.
“Food has an amazing power to bring people together,” Lair said. “It shows us how much we have in common, because we all eat, and we all enjoy good food.”
Lair, who is Shanghainese, led a “How to Make Wontons” demonstration and workshop Wednesday evening in the Tuner Hall food laboratory for Illinois State University’s Asian Heritage Week.
A capacity group of more than 25 students, faculty, and staff learned various techniques for stuffing and wrapping Chinese dumplings. Together, they made more than 200 wontons to either enjoy at the workshop or save for later.
“When people learn how to make certain foods of certain ethnic regions, hopefully they’ll also be curious to learn about the ingredients that they’re using as well as the people who sell them and the countries that they come from,” Lair said.
Using traditional ingredients including shepherd’s purse—a leafy green native to Asia and Europe—napa cabbage, Chinese chives, and wood-ear mushrooms, Lair prepared vegetarian and pork and vegetable fillings for workshop attendees to spoon, about a half a teaspoon each, into their wonton wrappers. Lair then demonstrated folding techniques.
“You wet the edges of your wrapper, and then you fold and attach the seam, here, like a triangle pocket,” Lair told a table of participants. “And then you fold the arms in—like that!”
Sophomore accounting major Kirsten Kindred attended the wonton-making workshop with her friends, sophomore exercise science major Lynnsey Friend and sophomore music education major Colin Norsworthy.
“We all like to cook, and this sounded like a fun activity for Asian Heritage Week,” Kindred said.
Seated together at a long, wood-top table, the group talked and laughed as they folded dozens of wontons for more than an hour.
“A gentile touch is key,” Norsworth said. “I feel like it’s very fragile.”
Friend added, “I’m trying to make sure I connect all of the corners so none of the filling falls out—and I’m trying to make them look pretty.”
Lair boiled batches of completed wontons in vegetable broth for approximately 10 minutes before serving them to each table.
“They’re delicious!” Friend said after taking her first bite. “They stayed together pretty well too.”
Friend, Kindred, and Norsworth said, after Wednesday’s workshop, they will likely add wontons to their home cooking list.
“They’re great for meal prep,” Lair noted. “You can make a bunch of them and freeze them.”
Lair said they were inspired to learn—and later, teach—how to make wontons by reflecting on their grandmother’s cooking.
“I have been trying to get back in touch with my own Asian heritage,” Lair said. “I didn’t do much authentic Chinese cooking when I was little. So recently, just from social media and blogs and TikTok, I’ve been inspired to reclaim my heritage. And one of the first things I started making was wontons, because I remember having them a lot as a kid, and they were delicious.”
Workshop participants left Wednesday’s session with newfound folding skills, recipes for savory wonton fillings, full stomachs, and—Lair hopes—a greater understanding and appreciation for authentic Chinese cuisine.
“I think people have an idea of Chinese food in America, and while that is still Chinese food made in this country by Chinese people, there is another whole genre of food from the Mainland—and then the Mainland itself has different regions that also have their own specific styles of food,” Lair said.
“I hope that this experience broadened people’s perception when they think of Chinese food, here in America.”
AsiaConnect, working with the Normal Public Library, the Illinois Art Station, and the Normal Theater, has several more event planned for Asian Heritage Week. All events are free and open to the public.
