Producer
The Happy Persimmon
Contact: Kim Short and Ilya Wang
Address: 617 West King Street Boone, NC, 28607
Phone: 704-798-6891
About Us
More than being producers, business owners, and lovers of good food, The Happy Persimmon is about being a part of a community. Kim and I (Ilya) met in 2016 working together at F.A.R.M. Cafe. As our friendship developed, we found community in one another as women of Asian descent. Having moved from Taiwan to North Carolina at age nine, learning to not only accept but be proud of my identity has been a constant and intentional journey. It has ultimately culminated in transforming my personal source of shame from the middle school cafeteria to being proud to share my primary love language: food.
The Happy Persimmon aims to one day be a brick and mortar Specialty Asian Market, providing the High Country with access to staple Asian ingredients that reflect the needs and cultures of this region. The Market will be a community space that offers cooking classes and cultural events and acts as visible representation for the diverse and multicultural communities that call Boone home. Our first step in this direction is to share some of our favorite dishes and flavors of home (East Asian) on the High Country Food Hub.
On the hub you will find the dishes that remind Kim of her mother's Japanese kitchen in California's Bay Area, my mom's Taiwanese kitchen in Salisbury, and my grandparent's kitchen in Taiwan. Finding creative ways to incorporate what is grown in our region into our personal foodways is a creative challenge that has allowed us to celebrate both our ties to Asia and to Appalachia. It reminds us that we can be fully ourselves and embody our cultures, and we can still belong. We're excited to share our tastes of home with y'all! Hope you enjoy!
The Happy Persimmon aims to one day be a brick and mortar Specialty Asian Market, providing the High Country with access to staple Asian ingredients that reflect the needs and cultures of this region. The Market will be a community space that offers cooking classes and cultural events and acts as visible representation for the diverse and multicultural communities that call Boone home. Our first step in this direction is to share some of our favorite dishes and flavors of home (East Asian) on the High Country Food Hub.
On the hub you will find the dishes that remind Kim of her mother's Japanese kitchen in California's Bay Area, my mom's Taiwanese kitchen in Salisbury, and my grandparent's kitchen in Taiwan. Finding creative ways to incorporate what is grown in our region into our personal foodways is a creative challenge that has allowed us to celebrate both our ties to Asia and to Appalachia. It reminds us that we can be fully ourselves and embody our cultures, and we can still belong. We're excited to share our tastes of home with y'all! Hope you enjoy!
Practices
Introducing new foodways while being community and locally-led is a creative and exciting task. We source locally and regionally when possible, and supplement vegetables in traditional recipes with what is seasonally available. We work to bridge what is grown in the High Country with food that reflect our identities and cultures.
We would not be here without the support of our community. We are grateful to have F.A.R.M. Cafe as our commercial commissary kitchen, to be able to both purchase and sell our products on the High Country Food Hub, and to work personally with local farmers to source ingredients that best fit our recipes. Finally, we would be remiss not to highlight Lee’s One Fortune Farm in Marion, our first partners and supporters in the initial phase of our business. We source regularly from their farm where they grow organic Asian vegetables, fruits, and rice.
Thanks for supporting us and being a part of this community with us!
We would not be here without the support of our community. We are grateful to have F.A.R.M. Cafe as our commercial commissary kitchen, to be able to both purchase and sell our products on the High Country Food Hub, and to work personally with local farmers to source ingredients that best fit our recipes. Finally, we would be remiss not to highlight Lee’s One Fortune Farm in Marion, our first partners and supporters in the initial phase of our business. We source regularly from their farm where they grow organic Asian vegetables, fruits, and rice.
Thanks for supporting us and being a part of this community with us!