Good looks: ‘The wonder is the variation in other people’: Relishing a weekend of ethnic gala’s in Buffalo | Eating

The Puerto Rican and Hispanic Day Parade, the Taste of Diversity and the Asian Food & Culture Festival converged on the same weekend in the City of Buffalo. The Hispanic community continues to celebrate Sunday in Niagara Square from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m., while the Asian Food & Culture Festival takes over Canalside from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Taste of Diversity was a one-day event that returned after a two-year hiatus.

While the Italian Festival and Irish Festival are important traditions long part of Buffalo’s fabric, this trio of ethnic festivals recognizes a newer wave of Buffalonians.

“The beauty is the difference in people,” said David Rivera, the Buffalo Common Councilmember who attended the Puerto Rican Parade and the Taste of Diversity in his district Saturday. 

The Puerto Rican Day Parade welcomed several hundred people to Niagara Square, a new site for the festival in part due to its 20th anniversary, said president Charles F. Torres. Local and state dignitaries, cultural organizations, nonprofits and kid-friendly characters drove or walked up Niagara Street in one of the city’s more colorful celebrations. Torres said the event’s purpose was to encourage a younger generation of Puerto Ricans and Hispanics.

“We want everyone to know that everyone’s equal, so when we started this parade, it was to lift the self-esteem of the kids because a lot of the media coverage, a lot of the things they saw were the negative things that were happening,” Torres said. “Our kids have among the highest poverty and the lowest education achievement.”

Sophia Zayas, recently promoted to director of Latin Affairs in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, was in Buffalo for the first time to celebrate her family’s cultural background. She echoed Torres’ message of youth empowerment while also emphasizing the diversity within Puerto Rican culture.

“We paved the way for Latinos and other Hispanic cultures, and I think the diversity that we share – even in Puerto Rico among ourselves, we have our Tainos, we have African descent, we have European descent – so our culture comes with so much beauty, richness and history,” Zayas said before the parade.

The festival continues Sunday with church services in Niagara Square between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., followed by rides, food trucks, live music and vendors in the closed-off square. 

The Taste of Diversity, a small but plucky event, overcame a rushed timetable to show off Grant Street’s cultural treasures.

Jen Silverman-Van Treese, an organizer of the event since 2009, said the festival’s friendly, low-key vibe has attracted people from outside the neighborhood to explore Grant Street and support a dozen food-and-drink vendors who’ve fought to stay in business the last two years. The overarching theme, however, is to illustrate how cultural differences can thrive side-by-side.  

“It’s coming together in a positive way to talk about diversity as a benefit, an asset to our city,” said Silverman-Van Treese. “That’s really important.”

From Thai food at trendy food truck Tiny Thai to trusty neighborhood staples like Freddy J’s barbecue and Gypsy Parlor’s wide-ranging fare, there was plenty of variety. Peach lemonade from Tiny Thai and smoothies poured into freshly carved pineapples from Frozen Pineapple Drinks were popular on the steamy day.

“It’s a nice place to get a variety of food, whereas like the Italian Fest and other ones are more like Americanized food, and fried food,” said Feben Tesfaye, who served traditional injera, a spongy, sourdough bread eaten by hand, and samosa from Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine’s stand. “At this one, you get a little taste of Indian, European and Spanish.”

Donisha Gant, owner of Plantae, a new vegan, healthy-option market on Grant Street, described the warm welcome she’s received in the community as visitors explored her goods. “It’s pockets full of love – I can’t do anything without someone else saying, ‘I love what you’re doing, or I love this, or I love the community,’ ” Gant said.

Sunday’s pan-Asian festival at the waterfront celebrates Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, Indian and more backgrounds. Sun Cuisines, Buffalo Little Lamb and Taste of Siam are among the food vendors expected to attend, while entertainment includes dance, live music and martial arts.