Food & Drink
Turning Hate Into Healing
Seattle food entrepreneur launches company to support #VeryAsian movement
By Rob Smith August 25, 2022
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2022 issue of Seattle magazine.
Angela Shen turned anti-Asian hate into healing. In doing so, she bolstered an entire community.
Shen, the founder of Savor Seattle Food Tours, created DOMO Collective – an online marketplace for foodie jewelry designed by makers in the Asian American Pacific Islander community – shortly after learning that her friend, former KING 5 anchor Michelle Li, had received a racist voicemail from a viewer. The viewer told Li, now an anchor at a TV station in St. Louis, to “keep her Korean to herself” and of being “very Asian” after she mentioned on-air that she enjoyed eating traditional Korean dumpling soup as a New Year’s tradition.
Li then started the #VeryAsian movement to call attention to racism, discrimination and violence directed toward Asians. It went viral. Shen timed the launch of DOMO the same day Li appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to discuss the incident.
Shen came up with the idea because “food is a universal language that everyone speaks and you don’t have to be Asian to want to support inclusivity and to show your support,” she says. “I just felt so compelled and called to action on a very deep level.”
Shen is no stranger to activism. In response to George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020, Savor Seattle created a “solidarity” box featuring items from Black-owned businesses. When the pandemic halted Savor Seattle’s food tours, Shen began delivering food boxes curated with items from the city’s small businesses. She donated portions of those proceeds to social justice causes, resulting in more than $100,000 for various nonprofit organizations including the Pike Place Market Foundation and Black Lives Matter.
One of DOMO’s signature pieces is a double dumpling necklace representing people and cultures coming together made by Seattle’s Ann Chikahisa of Chikahisa Studios. Other offerings include earrings, enamel pins and key chains. All proceeds from the first 200 orders and 10% of every subsequent order will be donated to The Very Asian Foundation, an organization Li founded that is committed to amplifying diverse American Asian Pacific Islander voices through education, storytelling and community. Domocollective.com
Follow Us
Restaurant Roundup: Service Charges, Drone Pizza Delivery, and Down Under Dessert
Lively Seattle food scene adds Eggslut and New Zealand-style ice cream
Between stories of wage theft, feuding business owners, and demands of 7% to 20% on top of your bill, Seattle’s food scene is starting to feel like the Wild West. Hope you’ve polished your fork and knife, because here are some of the latest bulletins. Please egg-scuse the mess Construction of a new breakfast sandwich…
One Year In, Lenox’s Dreams Are All Coming True
It's just like chef-owner Jhonny Reyes imagined
Jhonny Reyes used to look at the former Marco’s Supper Club and The Innkeeper space in Belltown with envy. “I’ve always had my eye on this place,” Reyes says, while telling the story of how his restaurant, Lenox, polymorphed from popup to food truck to brick-and-mortar. “I helped open The Innkeeper, actually. And then it…
Sweet Relief
Seattle’s ice cream game keeps it cool when the heat rolls in
Last summer, I romped around New England playing the sweaty tourist. Somewhere in Vermont, my family discovered maple creemees — those impossibly smooth soft-serve cones made with maple syrup and finished with rainbow sprinkles. We had one every day. Washington doesn’t do creemees, but the local ice cream scene more than makes up for it….
Stalk Market
Washington state is the top asparagus grower in the U.S. Here’s how — and where — to enjoy it.
Asparagus is an anagram for “a sugar spa.” Washington farmers say local asparagus is as refreshing, clean, appealing and good for you as a traditional spa. Asparagus is low in sugar and high in fiber, Vitamins A, C and K, and antioxidants, says Washington Asparagus Commission Executive Director and Pasco farmer Alan Schreiber. “It is generally one of the most healthy things…