She talked about the Dojo and how food highlights the different cultures represented at this year’s festival.Įrin Yoshimura: Through our festival we really want to engage people in what we call “particip-Asian” - get it? Food is another way of engaging our audiences, so we thought, “Let’s do some cooking demonstrations.” People love our food at the festival and, this year, we really want to engage people with our chefs - not only learning how to cook, but also to hear the stories behind the dishes. Yoshimura is a big foodie and the Culinary Dojo is her brainchild. The Colorado Dragon Boat Festival’s executive director, Erin Yoshimura, also joined Veltman and Eveleigh. I love to share my food, my culture, my cuisine and the people behind it as well.” “Cooking my food is really close to me because it brings people together,” Eveleigh says. Leah Eveleigh, one of the chefs participating in the festival’s Culinary Dojo, is a self-taught Filipina chef who won an episode of the Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen” earlier this year.Īrts show host Chloe Veltman met up with Eveleigh in a demonstration kitchen in Highlands Ranch earlier this week, as the chef cooked up pancit, a favorite Filipino noodle dish. Ĭhefs will also give cooking demonstrations, showing attendees how to make dishes like Indian kochi rolls, while Colorado-based Asian grocers will explain how to eat exotic fruits. It goes beyond teriyaki chicken and fried egg rolls to such delicacies as the Filipino dish b anana lumpia and s pam musubi - a Hawaiian specialty. The new event affords visitors the opportunity to explore the culinary terrain of many of Denver's 30 Asian ethnic groups. But for its 14th year, the festival this weekend at Sloan’s Lake Park in Denver is hosting its first ever "Culinary Dojo" where visitors can get a taste of some lesser-known traditional Asian dishes. (Photo: CPR/Stephanie Wolf) Asian cuisine has been a staple of the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival in the past.