Ethnic Foods Bring Crowds

Only a small slice of Los Angeles is on display Saturday and today, but it is a juicy, savory, aromatic slice, one that you bite into to find the richness of its people revealed.

It is seven hot blocks of Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake, cordoned off so that someone like Woranut Nimnuansakun, a Thai immigrant, can stand over her fiery wok in a food booth furiously stirring a mountain of pad thai noodles.

It is the courtyard of St. Sophia Cathedral at Normandie Avenue and Pico Boulevard, the heart of the city’s recently named Byzantine Latino Quarter, where Ann Pappas supervises the production of 600 pounds of Greek salad and 12 heavy trays of galatoboureko.

It is the African Marketplace and Cultural Faire in Rancho Cienega Park, where Terri and John Ikpeme serve up traditional West African collard greens, black-eyed peas, fried plantains, roasted chicken and bean cakes to hungry visitors.

During these waning days of summer, those not enjoying last-chance vacations in cool places were able to chart gastronomic adventures close to home. No fewer than six multicultural and neighborhood festivals dotted the region, attracting tens of thousands of participants.

And while booths of trinkets, pottery, tie-dye and Tarot readings offered a little something for every interest, it was the heaping plates of food that seemed to unify the masses.

“Food is a universal concept,” said John Ikpeme. “It brings people together.”

The truth is, he said, people go to festivals to eat. And, he theorized, if food can be a kind of cultural teacher, then eat up.

The Ikpemes joined two cultures with their marriage. And now, they join cultures with food.

“We bring the best of Arkansas and the best of Africa together,” said Terri, 46, who was raised eating Southern-style collard greens and corn bread in Little Rock.

Her husband, 42, opened the African restaurant Saaris in 1995, several years after moving to the U.S. from Nigeria.

The couple quickly learned that there are cultural twists to the collard greens.

In Nigeria, they are cooked with spices, bell peppers and onions, but no meat, Terri said. Americans tend to add salt pork, ham hocks or smoked turkey.

Iris Sankola, 22, of Los Angeles was not raised eating African food. But she couldn’t wait to devour the fried plantains and sweet bread served at Saaris. She made a beeline to Ikpeme’s booth when she arrived at the festival.

“Food unites people,” Sankola said. “Maybe it makes them less prejudiced.”

At LA Greek Fest 2001, Pappas had a more blunt assessment of food.

“Food and drink, for Greeks, is like the breath you take every day,” she said, laying a tray of four perfectly formed spanakopita pastries--fluffy phyllo stuffed with spinach and cheese--on the table.

“Eat! Eat!” she said. “It is considered very rude if you don’t eat.”

In the shadow of the golden dome of St. Sophia’s, the landmark sanctuary of the Greek Orthodox in Southern California, 24-year-old Ching Chow of Los Angeles cradled a tray of nachos. She was ogling pastries, deciding whether to buy diples or baklava. She chose a sampler tray. “I was hungry.”

While the ladies of St. Sophia, shaded by white and blue tarps, carefully turned over their handmade pastries to customers, “Mr. Churro” (a.k.a. Roberto Rodriguez of La Puente) turned out the fried confections of his people.

“It’s my first time doing a Greek Festival,” he said. “It’s a little slow, but the people are nice.”

In the San Fernando Valley, folks dined on spicy chena masala, tandoori chicken and samosas at the India Assn.’s festival at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. Festival-goers talked of food and their homeland.

“I like to eat,” said Angie Saini, of Simi Valley, taking a break from manning her real estate company’s booth. Ranjit and Aruna Roy of West Hills agreed.

“Of course it’s the main attraction,” Aruna Roy, 71, said laughing, but she added that the festival brought back memories of the couple’s student days in New Delhi. “I must tell you the day India became independent, we were there. The British flag came down and the Indian flag went up,” she said.

A grittier scene unfolded along Sunset, where immigrant restaurateurs and professional festival vendors crowded side by side with their folding tables, grills and tanks of propane.

Here it was Thai-Chinese combo plates, next to handmade corn tamales, next to gyros, next to kettle corn, next to Polish sausage, next to teriyaki bowls, next to $5 smoothies served in cored pineapples.

Up the street, there were ceviche and mariscos, the 20-year domain of the Valdivia family of Taco Delta on Sunset. No one in the family can figure out where the Delta came from.

The name “was there when my dad bought the business,” said Irma Valdivia, 20, who was 40 days old when her mother, father and grandmother took over the taco stand, popular among locals. It’s their annual tradition to work in the booth as a family. Irma is responsible for keeping the ceviche at 39 degrees.

The family members chatted with customers who have supported them over the years, giving Phillip Valdivia the income to buy a large home for his family and support two other daughters now in college.

“I grew up at this stand,” Irma said.

Around her on this stretch of Sunset, were the rough and tumble world of fair food. The competition was tough, the vendors aggressive.

“I have two restaurants: Toi No. 1 and Toi No. 2,” said Samroeng Muanpho, a Thai immigrant. “Thirteen years in L.A., and now I’m a citizen.”

He brought in 10 booth workers Saturday: family, friends and neighbors. This booth is good for business, he explained. “A lot of the Americans will come by and eat my food,” he said. “Then they will become my customers.”

His neighbor Nimnuansakun, who carefully spelled her name, all too cognizant of its length, labored at the wok. She sprinkled spices, ladled on oil and threw in handfuls of bean sprouts, stirring, stirring, stirring. Then, in one deft movement, she took a single noodle from the spoon and tasted it.

“Done,” she announced, the only English word she said.

Watching the scene was Maron Ellison, 36. He’s on the festival cleanup crew, and like a professional, he was scoping out lunch.

“I look for freshness. Is the cook clean? How does the food preparation area look? How are they cooking? Is there a lot of oil?” And the wok passed muster.

“I’m versatile. I like different foods,” said Ellison. Last week, he was in Alhambra, a hot spot for Chinese food. “I stay away from hot dogs. When you like ethnic food and you are hungry, somehow it’s twice as good at a fair.”

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Times staff writer Maggie Barnett contributed to this story.