Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 6:00 PM
2000 W Main St, Alhambra
Explore immigration, labor, and sex through the history of Asian American cuisine Staged as a Chinese banquet, Lena Chen's Five Flavors weaves firsthand stories from Asian American sex workers with a performance lecture on the history of Chinese American food, immigration exclusion, and labor. Each story is paired with a dish representing a flavor from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): salty, sour, bitter, sweet, or pungent, which corresponds to an organ and emotion. As dishes circulate among participants, the lecture draws connections between Panda Express, cultural appropriation, feminism, fetishization, and racial violence. Catered by Jess Wang of Gu Grocery, in collaboration with Chef Felix Fang, the performance becomes a potluck of stories, representing Asian American womanhood through the metaphor of consumption and using food to heal fears, anxieties, anger, and resentments in Asian communities. Five Flavors was developed in collaboration with Private Practices, a collection on AAPI sex work and performance art housed at Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA) in Chinatown, Los Angeles. Registration does not guarantee seating. Please arrive early for best seat availability. Doors will close once the event reaches full capacity. Dietary restrictions cannot be accommodated. The menu has limited options for vegetarians and those with shellfish allergies. SCHEDULE 6pm Doors Open with Community Organization Fair featuring: BAD ASIANS Chinatown Community for Equitable Development Gu Grocery Los Angeles Contemporary Archive Not Your Rescue Project Sex Workers Outreach Project LA Sex Workers' Abortion Navigation Services 6:30-7:30pm Five Flavors performance by Lena Chen, featuring oral histories by Kayla, Ione, Riv, and Kimberly. 7:30-8:30pm DJ Avi Loud & Community Organization Fair Created by Lena Chen, Artist Council Member in the PAiD (Public Artists in Development) Program, this project was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture and developed and delivered by Dyson & Womack. This project is made possible with additional support from the Lightning Fund, a re-granting program administered by LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) and funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Part of the Being Human Festival (US), running April 17–May 3, this project is one of 23 community events across the country supported by the National Humanities Center.