Enjoy a world of eats at Nashua’s Multicultural Festival
Nashua is one of the most diverse cities in New Hampshire. According to Data USA (datausa.io), 13 percent of Nashua’s population is Hispanic, and 15 percent were born outside the United States. Seven percent of Nashuans are Asian, two percent identify as Black, and another four percent are multiracial.
This year’s annual Nashua Multicultural Festival, on Saturday, Sept. 14, will be a celebration of food, art, dance and more, from some of Nashua’s many cultures. Jasmine Allen is part of the Festival’s planning committee and is in charge of outreach and social media for it.
“Nashua is considered a Welcoming City,” Allen said, “and we are planning the Multicultural Festival around the National Welcoming Week as a city that is welcoming to all diversity and cultures. And so we’ll be having a flag parade, we’ll be having some wonderful cultural dances and poetry — things like that. So just a fun mix of great stuff.”
One of the best gateways to learning about other cultures is through their foods. One of the focuses of this weekend’s Festival is food that many people in New Hampshire are likely unfamiliar with. Soel Sistas Soul Food (30 Temple St, Suite 202, Nashua, 943-1469, soelsistas.com) will be providing some of the food. “They do mostly soul food, things like chicken and collard greens, things like that,” Allen said.
Iraida Muñoz is the lead for the Multicultural Festival, the chair committee, and Equity Officer for the Division of Public Health and Community Services in Nashua. She is very excited about this weekend’s food, particularly from Soel Sistas.
“Of course, we’re going to have Soel Sistas,” Muñoz said excitedly. “She is planning to bring some Hispanic food that is going to be a surprise for us. But she’s very well-known in the city by her mac & cheeses, which are quite good. People love it. [Another restaurant] is going to be Sabor Brasil. Their specialty is obviously some red meat, some chicken as well, and they are planning to bring some pasta, some salad and some appetizers. And they are going to do like sample sizes, so people can enjoy all of them in a very affordable way. So that’s one of the things that we are focusing on — affordability, so people will have options from very affordable food to a little more on the expensive side.”
Another vendor that Muñoz is excited about is Empanellie’s. “This is a couple,” she said. “They do cook Hispanic food, obviously, especially empanadas. Their empanadas are very well-known in this area and they have more than 15 kinds. They are also bringing the typical Hispanic food like rice and beans. So it’s going to be Puerto Rican style and Colombia style that they are bringing to the table.”
A wide variety of drinks will be available, from horchata (a Latin American rice drink) to Asian fruit teas and juices. Muñoz emphasized that there will not be any alcohol served at the Festival. “This is a family-friendly event,” she said. But there will be beverages from Gong Cha, a Taiwanese-style beverage shop. “They have green tea, black tea, watermelon, winter melon, Muñoz said. “They have some based in cream, so the creme brulee, and brown sugar milk tea is very popular. And those kinds of drinks, people love it. They sold out last time and they are looking forward to coming back.”
Jasmine Allen said the breadth of types of food at the Festival is symbolic of a major cultural change that New Hampshire, and Nashua in particular, is going through. “I literally feel like New Hampshire is going through a renaissance period,” she said. “It’s very exciting.”
Nashua Multicultural Festival
When: Saturday, Sept. 14, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Nashua Public Library (2 Court St., Nashua) and Library parking lot. Festival parking is available at any City lot.
Footage from last year’s Festival can be viewed on YouTube, under the heading “Nashua Multicultural Festival 2023”