Asian Leadership Collective are the official hosts of #ESEAEats, an annual celebration of East Asian and Southeast Asian (ESEA) culture and heritage storytelling through food.
The #ESEAEats campaign was started in 2020 by co-founders Anna Chan, founder and director of Asian Leadership Collective, and Georgie Ma, award winning podcast host of Chinese Chippy Girl.
This November’s theme was Humans of #ESEAEats, showcasing those behind the movement to champion the wide range of hashtag users; from chefs, small business owners, food enthusiasts, home-cooks, influencers and more!
Part of a larger ESEA community movement
ESEAEats can be celebrated at any time, despite the anniversary itself being in November.
Like many celebrations of community and togetherness, #ESEAEats is part of a wider movement of ESEA community calendar of importance to celebrate joy throughout the year:
- ESEA heritage month in September (hosted by Besea.n) is an example where this year different events were organised; supper clubs, walks, fairs, clothes swaps and much more, by individuals and organisations across the country, to highlight and celebrate ESEA heritage and communities.
- Kind Red Packet (a grassroots non-profit organisation) uplifts ESEA communities through joyful activism, intergenerational storytelling and the decolonisation of wellness. They create the safe space in order for people to get a sense of belonging and cultural appropriation.
- ESEA Sisters have also created an international platform for East and South East Asian women, trans, non-binary and genderqueer folk to talk freely without fear and to enable people to feel understood. Connecting through healing events enables strengthening of support systems by collective sharing and processing.
- Congee Club by Jenny Lau aka Celestial Peach where different communities come together to have round table discussions and eat congee.
The creations of activations like these are important as a community – we are still under represented.
Representation in the UK
According to the recent National Hate Crime statistics released by the Home Office, hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales for year ending 31st March 2022 has increased year on year by 26%. Specifically racial hate crimes made up 70% of the total offences in 21/22 and increased 19% compared to the previous year. [Hate Crime England and Wales]
Despite this being the biggest increase since the year ending March 2017, this does not truly reflect the actual increase in hate crimes as many go unreported.
Last year there was a Domino’s ad campaign that had been accused of perpetuating harmful narratives against the East and South East Asian community with using the line “Anything but Chinese” in their advert. The ESEA community voiced their concerns to The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s regulator of advertising to file a complaint, however they concluded that “in the context of the ad it was unlikely to cause serious or wide spread offence”.
Since the online discussions, Domino’s have issued an apology via news outlet Resonate. However there have been more companies that use harmful language, read our statement on The Mahjong Line here.
Which is why organisations like The Diversity Trust are so important.
The Diversity Trust CIC is a Community Interest Company with a mission to ‘influence social change to create a fairer and safer society’. They provide consultancy, training and research to various companies, organisations and groups locally, nationally and internationally and are specialists in equality, diversity, equity and inclusion. The team itself is made up of a wide range of protected characteristic groups with lived experiences which is why it is able to provide a wealth of knowledge.
Between Apr 20 – Mar 21 they had over 5,000 participants in their training workshops which included Hate Crime Awareness, Health and Mental Awareness and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion with growing unique website views +154% vs the year before.
Berkeley Wilde, Founder and Executive Director / CEO of the Diversity Trust, has worked as an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion consultant, researcher, speaker and trainer for three decades. Berkeley said of the new partnership:
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Asian Leadership Collective. Partnership and collaborative working is at the core and essence of everything the Diversity Trust does.
We know from our work in hate crime and discrimination that communities are significantly impacted and that the ripple effects of hate and discrimination can have lifelong and far-reaching consequences on individuals, but also more widely on families and communities.
For us raising and amplifying our key messages of equality, diversity, equity and inclusion across communities, as well as across workplaces, is vital. As we celebrate our 10-year anniversary this year we are really proud of the partners we work with. I welcome Asian Leadership Collective and I look forward to what the partnership brings.”
With their intersectional approach to their work it makes it exciting for ALC and for the ESEA community to be a part of this!
What can you do to support?
Eat at ESEA establishments and of course tag us @asianleadershipcollective and add #ESEAeats so we can share your #ESEAjoy for everyone to see!
Visit Diversity Trust’s website and read up more on what they can do to help and if any of their services can be of help to you.
Visit and support ESEA businesses.
Check in on your friends and family.
Rebecca Lam, Asian Leadership Collective