Courtesy of Tuttle Publishing

Bee Yinn Low's pork dumpling soup

Macy's doesn't just celebrate holidays. It celebrates "months." Black History Month in February. Then Hispanic Heritage Month in September. For June, LGBT National Pride Month. Now, it's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month -- and that calls for food. This Saturday afternoon, two store locations will present cooking demonstrations; one with chef and author Bee Yinn Low, and another with JTYH Restaurant as well as Nguyen and Thi Tran of Starry Kitchen.

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D. Gonzalez

Roti with green curry sauce at Gindi Thai

Somehow, food always seems to taste better when it's shared. And not just as it's passed around a table, but also when it travels across borders. The South Asian subcontinent has passed down its plates far and wide, providing the inspiration for new dishes through its native ingredients like pepper, ginger and cardamom, as well as incorporating itself into a wide world of meals through its unleavened flat bread, roti.

From South Africa's Cape Malay roti to the Caribbean's wrap roti, just as the use of spices spread across the globe, so has the use of roti and roti-like breads. Yet our favorite takes on roti don't wander too far from home. In L.A., some of the best roti comes from Southeast Asian restaurants like Gindi Thai, Simpang Asia and Penang Malaysian Cuisine.

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The Boba Truck

Since it's launch in 2010, The Boba Truck has become a serious contender in the Southern California bubble tea scene. Patrons know it for its unique flavors like Fuji Apple Green Tea and Rose Oolong Tea -- but there's actually much more behind the four-wheeled tea spewing machine. Turn the page for six things we bet you didn't know about the Boba Truck.

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Jennifer Liu

Crowds at the night market on Friday

For many, the 626 Night Market was a logistical nightmare. Tens of thousands of people poured into Oakland Avenue between Colorado Boulevard and Union Street on Friday evening. Lines for vendors were impossible to maneuver through and many compared the turnout to that of Coachella or the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival.

"I waited in line for two and a half hours," UCLA junior Daniel Hsu said. "It was pretty crazy. They should have known how many people were coming. It was all over Facebook."

But according to the organizers, the turnout far exceeded their expectations. "We had 8,000 Facebook fans on April 14, and that's what we expected," Jonny Hwang, one of the founders said. "But how do you prepare for 8,000 versus say, 30,000?" Hwang said he's still awaiting a formal attendance estimate from the authorities.

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Qianjiang Evening Post

You really don't want to know what's going on here

How can we put this delicately? We can't. The fact of the matter is, in the Chinese city of Dongyang, springtime is the time to eat "virgin boy eggs" -- hard-boiled eggs marinated and simmered in urine, according to Reuters.

Virgin boy urine, to be precise. Preferably from lads under the age of 10.

Buckets of snotty little boys' urine are collected from primary schools. It takes almost an entire day to make the springtime treat, beginning with soaking and then boiling raw eggs in a pot of urine. After they are hard-boiled, the shells of the eggs are cracked and they continue to simmer in urine for hours. To many, it is the (foul) smell of spring.

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Clarissa Wei

Taiwanese beef rolls

Venture into a mom-and-pop Taiwanese restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley and first-timers will undoubtedly be intimidated. The menus read much like those of strictly Chinese restaurants, but it's the subtle and uniquely Formosan dishes that make the experience that much more authentic.

Fried tofu that reeks of sewage but tastes absolutely phenomenal? Omelets with a layer of goo and embedded oysters? Before you pass on these unconventional exotic appetizers, note that Taiwan is one of the culinary centers of East Asia. These guys know their food.

Now there's none of that bubble tea and shaved ice nonsense in our list. We stuck with the basics: traditional, homey dishes that are the favorites and staples of the local Taiwanese. Turn the page for our 10 Classic Taiwanese dishes, in alphabetical order.

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YouTube/FungBrosComedy

Fung Brothers at Savoy Kitchen

YouTube stars, comedians and brothers Andrew and David Fung ascended to San Gabriel Valley fame in February with music video "626," a witty YouTube mash-up of various restaurants and dishes in the area.

"Food is the one thing that a lot of people can agree that Asians are the best at," Andrew Fung said. "Asians are the best at math, cars, making cars, saving money, being cheap and making really good affordable food."

With over 250,000 views, the clip pays an extensive tribute to food culture in the 626, an area they feel is underrepresented in mainstream media. The Fung brothers are lifelong patrons to the San Gabriel Valley food scene, so we caught up with them on the phone to ask them about their favorite picks and why food is so important to them.

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626 Night Market

So it won't look exactly like this, but we imagine it to be pretty close.

​Debuting on April 14th in Pasadena, the 626 Night Market will be Southern California's first Asian night market. And with more than 2,000 fans on Facebook, the event is slated to be a huge San Gabriel Valley hit. Founders Jonny Hwang and his wife Janet come from Taiwan, where the night market, or ye shi, is a cultural commodity.

"Over in Taiwan the night markets are a staple of daily society," Hwang, who had operated a restaurant and lounge during his time in Taiwan said. "My wife came to the
States several years ago; it's hard for her to adapt here. It's different from Taipei. In here, especially in the suburbs it's a lot more quiet. We wanted something for people to do on the weekend besides clubbing and bar hopping."

Though the team is not making a profit from the event, the two hope to eventually turn the event into a regular experience. "The event has attracted a lot of attention and our website is pretty healthy. But the donations are not turning. We also really lowered our vendor fee to the point that we're not going to cover our cost. But we're going to continue this venture in the future and see what happens," Hwang said. In addition to planning and juggling vendor requests, Hwang works full-time in the entertainment industry. But he found the time to talk to us about the concept, challenges, and of course -- the food.

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amazon

Our cookbook this week is the just-released Asian Tofu: Discover the Best, Make Your Own, and Cook It at Home. Because if anyone can convince us to make tofu at home, it is Andrea Nguyen, the sort of tightly focused, thoughtful food writer who inspires you to explore a new subject (Vietnamese cuisine) in a firm yet encouraging, maternal sort of manner.

On her blog, the Santa Cruz-based author sums up how we felt after flipping through this fantastic tofu primer. "I started out thinking that I knew tofu but quickly realized that I had lots to learn," she recalls.

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A. Scattergood

Mochi at Mikawaya

Visit Little Tokyo, and -- even if you're a rabid manga fan or karaoke maniac -- your trip will likely involve food. Perhaps yakisoba, fried noodles topped with bright red ginger. Or okonomiyaki, a pancake cooked with a variety of savory ingredients. (The name literally means "what you want.") And the smell of fresh takoyaki, dumpling-like balls filled with diced octopus, can be hard to resist. Then there are Asian grocery stores selling produce such as kabocha, gobo (burdock) and shiso leaves.

On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Japanese American National Museum will offer the chance to explore local foods on a walking tour called "Graze Little Tokyo Walk." "The food tour will encompass the neighborhood's history, which is unique," a museum worker told us.

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