By Sisi Wei

Contributing Writer

All of the contestants knelt down, and the rules were quickly explained: no hands, keep the bowl on the table, find the hidden mochi – small ice cream balls – within the flour and raise your hand when you’re finished.

As soon as the contest began, a cloud of flour flew out of Kristin Landry’s bowl, covering not only her face, but everything within a one-foot radius.

“I just blew all the flour out of the way and it was easy from there,” said Landry, a McCormick sophomore.

The mochi-eating contest was one of many activities at Friday’s Taiwan Night Market in the Louis Room in Norris University Center. The Taiwanese American Students Club hosted the event, which featured mah-jong, Chinese knotting, dough figures, pass the band, Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, boba figures, Ping-Pong toss and Chinese checkers.

“I think Taiwan Night Market is a showcase of Taiwanese culture,” said Robynn Yip, a SESP senior and vice president of the club. “Night markets are very common in Taiwan, so it’s an essential part of who we are as a student group and what we do.”

Lion Dance, Treblemakers, Typhoon Dance Troupe and ReFresh all performed at the night market.

“What’s really exciting is that (the performance groups) all started in the Asian community, or the Asian-American community,” said Michael Hsu, a Weinberg junior and club president .

The group also created information boards describing Taiwanese history, geography, food, fashion, fun facts and politics. At the politics board, students could take free “UN for Taiwan Peace Forever” bumper stickers.

But the most popular part of the night was the food. Club members served up a variety of traditional foods, such as homemade bubble tea, shaved ice, curry chicken, Taiwanese marinated pork, fried rice and fried noodles.

Thirty minutes after the night market began, the group was already out of fried noodles and was quickly running out of other items, as well. A second batch of food was ordered and arrived later in the event.

“(The attendance) was beyond our wildest expectations,” Hsu said.

More than 400 students attended the market, double the number of last year’s attendees, Hsu said.

“I know it’s free this year, so that probably explained why we had so many people,” Yip said. “I just think it’s amazing.”

Having secured extra funds from the Student Activities Fee, Northwestern Alumni Association, and independent fundraising, the Taiwanese group was able to run the Taiwan Night Market free of charge for the first time in the event’s seven-year history.

Despite the festive atmosphere, some students found the night an inaccurate representation of Taiwan.

“Much of the activities aren’t actually at Taiwan’s night markets,” said Tiffany Wu, a Weinberg sophomore, citing Guitar Hero, DDR and Chinese knotting in particular. “I was really expecting to see oyster pancakes because they’re so common in Taiwan.”

But Wu said the group was trying to appeal to and educate a diverse student body.

“They’ve tried catering it to college students, and that’s definitely worked,” she said.

To Meixi Ng, a Communication freshman, the night felt authentic.

“You can see how the Taiwanese live – what food they eat, what crafts they do, songs they sing,” Ng said. “It’s like actually being at a night market.”

Reach Sisi Wei at [email protected].