Sizzling hot grills, spicy curry, and a fire show lit up Union Square on Saturday during Ignite: A Global Street Food, Fire, and Light Festival.
The event was run and presented by Nibble Kitchen, which runs food programming in partnership with the Somerville Arts Council, which focuses on “equal parts cultural storytelling, multicultural exchange and representation, and small business development and entrepreneurship,” said Nibble Program Director Tony Baum.
Nibble’s goal is “[t]o lower the barrier to entry as much as possible, whether that is opening a restaurant, running a food business, or just sharing meals,” Baum said.
The organization provides space for the public to be a part of the process—cooking should be accessible. As part of Nibble’s mission, Ignite is meant to highlight the diversity of Somerville through the world’s greatest equalizer: food.
“Sharing a table, sharing stories around that table, that’s the most, pun very much intended, digestible way to experience a culture,” Baum said. “You feel like you’re a part of that process, you’re not just seeing something on a wall, or hearing words being spoken to you. You’re actually engaging with that culture, along with the person who created the meal.”
With live cooking demonstrations and pop-up booths, Ignite had plenty of international food to offer, including pupusas from El Salvador, boxes filled with Jamaican cuisine, and Indian “fire samosas.” The festival bites all had a focus on one thing—spice—which played into the most thrilling event of the evening: Masala Square Indian Kitchen’s Spicy Curry Eating Contest.
The participants ranged from people who had eaten ghost peppers, habaneros, and Carolina Reapers, to some who were taking on spice for the first time. In the end, only one was victorious.
“It was great … It was a lot more spicy than I thought it was going to be,” contest-winner Samimi said afterward. “I heard my sister, I heard my fiancé, they were cheering like crazy … I felt all my Thai ancestors kind of come in, and they were giving me strength, too.”
If things got too hot, Ignite made sure there were ways to cool down, too. Matki Artisanal Kulfi was there to help people beat the heat. Kulfi is a type of ice cream that originated in India, made from full-fat milk. Traditional flavors include rose, cardamom, saffron, and more. Riti Doshi was happy to have an opportunity to share her kulfi with Somerville.
“I think it’s important to have diversity and representation of different frozen desserts … I think it’s really great to offer it to the community,” Doshi said. “It’s something new.”
But Ignite’s entertainment did not just include food—performers also brought the heat with Brazilian, Indian, and Chinese traditional dances, followed by a dance party with the various roaming performers. The night finished with a fiery finale from Boston Circus Guild as they juggled and danced for the crowd with flaming torches, hula hoops, and more.
The night may have been cold, but Union Square knew how to turn up the heat. It was clear that this event was by the community, for the community, and that is what Baum wanted.
“Bringing the cultures that exist here in Somerville to the people of Somerville, rather than this notion that [they] have to leave Somerville to find cultural diversity, is a huge part of what these events enable us to do.”
