Dumpling Debacle At NYC Dumpling Festival

My friend Sarah and I arrived at the NYC Dumpling Festival, held in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, at approximately 2:00 p.m. What followed can only be described as confusion and disappointment. Upon entering the Dumpling Festival we were met by signs screaming in bold black marker, "OUT OF TICKETS". Dejected and confused, (how could a food themed event that started merely two hours earlier be out of tickets- a necessity if one wanted to sample any of the nine varieties of dumplings), we stalled for a moment and debated an alternative lunch scheme. While we were discussing area restaurants, we noticed a line forming at the table responsible for ticket sales. An influx of tickets had miraculously appeared, and we took full advantage by quickly purchasing four tickets for $5.00 per ticket. Directly after purchasing our tickets we turned toward the dumpling stands and were overcome with severe disappointment. Had the promise of dumplings from Italy, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland and China not been so alluring we might have realized at least four of the dumpling stands were sold out of food and the lines at the stands that still had food were over 50 people deep (imagine how the lines might have looked had it not been raining). We used two tickets for a plate of five potstickers filled with chicken and lotus root (sadly, they were from a frozen package that could just as easily be purchased in a local grocery store and warmed at home) and a plate of three gummy palitaw (a rice flour cake coated with toasted sesame seeds and sugar) from the Philippines before we cut our losses, leaving two tickets unused, and headed home.

These signs were taped on each side of the ticket table

Malaysian kuih koci were sold out

Although we had waited in line for Indian idli we were given potstickers as all idli were sold out

Pierogies, a food I was looking forward to eating, were sold out

The shortest line was at the palitaw stand, and after tasting them we realized why

This performer's ability to balance and twirl a bottle on the edge of a spatula in his mouth did not detract from the lack of food

The event was crammed with people waiting in long lines