This Night Market Puts Pacific Island Cuisine Front and Center

These days the Bay Area is awash with so many night markets, it’s possible for a hardcore street food lover to hit one up almost every single weekend. But the latest market to touch down on the Peninsula is almost certainly the only one where hungry visitors can feast on Fijian meat pies, Tongan teriyaki-braised turkey tails and watermelon ’otai, and Hawaiian barbecue plate lunches.

In fact, South Pacific Food Fest is the Bay Area’s only night market dedicated exclusively to Pacific Island culture and cuisine. The annual event’s second edition takes place this Saturday, Oct. 12, at University Circle in East Palo Alto.

The night market is the brainchild of Fusi Taaga (of Tokemoana Foods) and Angelina Hurrell, both of whom have spent years selling their island dishes at food events all over Northern California.

As Taaga tells it, many Pacific Island food vendors are no stranger to the Bay Area festival circuit, but they’re often relegated to supporting actor status at big events (like, say, Outside Lands) where food isn’t the main focus. And while the Bay is home to plenty of large-scale AAPI food festivals, the reality is that these tend to be heavy on the “AA” and relatively light on the “PI,” with maybe only one or two vendors at the most representing all of the different islands in the South Pacific.

“In a lot of those spaces, the actual representation from Pacific Islanders is very minimal,” Taaga says. “It’s not really anyone’s fault.” So, she and Hurrell decided to create a space of their own — a festival where Polynesian/Pacific Islander cuisine would be front and center.

In short, Taaga says, “We wanted to create an event where Pacific Islanders do feel like it’s about them and this community.”

The night market aspect was mostly just to accommodate working people’s schedules and help create an atmosphere — with art, music and other cultural performances — where folks would want to stay and hang out for a while, instead of just grabbing a meal on the run.

This year’s South Pacific Food Fest will feature 16 food vendors, culled from over 60 applications—an outpouring of interest that speaks to the abundance of island food here in the Bay Area. In fact, the local Pacific Islander food scene’s robustness may come as a surprise to those outside of the community: Apart from the ubiquity of Hawaiian barbecue restaurants across the region, many of these businesses are food trucks, pop-ups and catering operations. Often, they don’t have a brick-and-mortar presence and haven’t gotten a ton of press coverage.

What Taaga and Hurrell hope, then, is that the night market will help showcase the tremendous diversity of Pacific Island cuisine. Saturday’s food lineup will include flaky-crusted Fijian-style minced beef pies and smoked brisket pies from Bula Pies Fiji and lamb curry from Fijian BBQ. Tokemoana, whose brick-and-mortar restaurant in San Mateo closed last year, will sell Tongan braised turkey tails and feke (octopus in cream sauce). And the chef for Saia’s Spot in East Palo Alto — perhaps the Bay Area’s first Tongan restaurant whose heyday was during the early 2000s — is coming out of retirement to serve lu kapapulu, a Polynesian staple made with taro leaves and corned beef.

Meanwhile, other Pacific Islander–owned businesses will serve dishes not typically associated with the South Pacific — like hibachi plates and Cajun seafood boil, prepared with an island twist. Dessert options will include Dole whip and the Samoan cinnamon cake known as puligi. And yes, there will be plenty of Hawaiian barbecue too.

Taaga recalls that when she first opened her diner-like San Mateo restaurant, so many American customers came and ordered things like teriyaki cheeseburgers and banana macadamia nut pancakes — in other words, dishes that aren’t really Tongan foods at all. But then they would see, and become curious about, the more traditional dishes on the menu.

She hopes the South Pacific Food Fest can function in a similar way. The event will, first and foremost, be an opportunity for the local Pacific Island community to come together. But she also hopes those outside of the community will come, perhaps drawn in by the promise of poke bowls and Hawaiian barbecue. And once they’re there? Hopefully, Taaga says, they’ll also try some of the lesser-known foods on offer.

“It’s an opportunity for these businesses to showcase their food and their culture to the outside world,” Taaga says.

South Pacific Food Fest will take place on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 4–10 p.m. at University Circle in East Palo Alto. Admission is free.