What happens when two cities, two cultures,
and countless stories come together at one shared kitchen table?
About POPUPASIA®
POPUPASIA® is a platform dedicated to connecting cities, creators, and communities across Asia through real-life cultural experiences. By bringing people together beyond exhibitions and markets, POPUPASIA® creates spaces where everyday culture — from design to food — becomes a shared language for cross-city dialogue.
POPUPASIA® × Chiang Mai Design Week 2025:
Cooking Together ⋆˚࿔
At Chiang Mai Design Week 2025, POPUPASIA® partnered with Chiang Mai University’s CTRD & MDRI and Anusarn Building to present Cooking Together: When Locals Meet — Chiang Mai × Taipei.
An event that used food as a medium to connect local culture, urban memory, and people from two cities at one shared table.
⋆‧° Cooking Together: When Locals Meet — Chiang Mai × Taipei
Learning culture through food at Chiang Mai Design Week 2025 ⋆‧°
Food has always been more than nourishment — it is a vessel of memory, culture, and everyday life.
At Chiang Mai Design Week 2025, Cooking Together: When Locals Meet — Chiang Mai × Taipei invited participants to reconnect with culture through hands-on cooking, shared stories, and lived experiences.
Organized by Chiang Mai University’s Center for Tourism Research and Development (CTRD) and Multidisciplinary Research Institute (MDRI), in collaboration with POPUPASIA® and Anusarn Building, the event used food as a cultural bridge between Chiang Mai and Taipei.
The workshop took place on December 7, 2025, at Anusarn Market & Anusarn Building, located in Sanpakoi Creative Zone, Chiang Mai, as an official program of Chiang Mai Design Week 2025.
🍽️ Food as a Cultural Medium
Cooking Together is not simply a cooking class — it is a cultural concept that views the kitchen as a space for learning, exchange, and connection.
Through food, participants explored how local cuisine reflects lifestyle, history, and community values.
The event began with a Concept Introduction session at 9:00 AM, where the POPUPASIA® team shared insights from Taipei’s Dadaocheng and the URS Urban Regeneration Forward Base, demonstrating how food-based gatherings can activate neighborhoods and bring people together.
🥢 Hands-on Cooking & Cultural Exchange
From 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, the space transformed into an open kitchen for the Cooking Workshop.
Participants cooked Taiwanese local dishes alongside Chiang Mai’s signature Larb, guided by chefs and local creators from both regions. Beyond recipes, the workshop emphasized storytelling — sharing family memories, regional food traditions, and everyday life experiences.
Together, participants also co-created a special one-day-only fusion dish, blending flavors and techniques from Chiang Mai and Taipei — a tangible result of cross-cultural collaboration.
Why Anusarn Market & Anusarn Building? 🏛️
Anusarn Building is one of Chiang Mai’s rare century-old structures, long known as a crossroads for travelers, merchants, and multicultural exchange. Today, it has been reimagined as a creative and cultural hub — making it the perfect venue for an event centered on heritage, community, and co-creation.
Cooking here wasn’t just about food — it was a conversation with the city’s past, present, and future.
POPUPASIA®’s Role & Value 𖦹
Through Cooking Together, POPUPASIA® demonstrated its core mission:
to connect cities, creators, and communities through real, participatory experiences.
By bringing Taipei’s neighborhood-based food culture into Chiang Mai, POPUPASIA® created a platform where culture was not displayed, but lived and shared together — turning everyday actions into meaningful cross-city connections.
𑣲 Event Highlights
- Introduction to the “Cooking Together” cultural concept
- Learning local culture through Taiwanese & Chiang Mai cuisine
- Hands-on cooking workshop: Taiwanese food × Larb Chiang Mai
- Exchange of recipes, creative ideas, and food stories
- Co-creation of a unique Chiang Mai × Taipei fusion dish
📍 Date: December 7, 2025
📌 Venue: Anusarn Market & Anusarn Building, Sanpakoi Creative Zone, Chiang Mai
🎨 Official Program: Chiang Mai Design Week 2025
To explore more cross-city cultural collaborations and B2B opportunities, visit:
https://2b.popupasia.com
✦ REMINDER ✦
TAITHAI FIESTA 2026｜Thailand × Taiwan Creative & Trade Delegation
Following the momentum of POPUPASIA®’s December program in Chiang Mai, we are excited to announce TAITHAI FIESTA 2026, a large-scale Thailand–Taiwan creative festival and trade delegation taking place in April 2026.
Bringing together Thai and Taiwanese brands, food culture, street creativity, music, performance, handmade marketplaces, and cross-cultural exchange programs, the event is expected to welcome 400+ Thai brands, artists, musicians, and cultural groups in Taiwan.
Inspired by internationally renowned events such as the Thai Festival in Tokyo, TAITHAI FIESTA 2026 aims to become the largest Thai–Taiwan creative and cultural festival in Asia. POPUPASIA® warmly invites creators, brands, and cultural communities in Thailand to be part of this historic delegation.
👉 Register now at: https://taithaifiesta.com/
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