Erik Kennedy dines out – a lot. The co-founder of ElevAsian, a Milwaukee collective whose mission is to amplify the local Asian American and Pacific Islander community and its achievements, has become a connector, bringing together local leaders and thinkers over a relaxed meal that could indirectly be a catalyst for bettering our community.
Food is the common denominator, the icebreaker. Kennedy is also proudly 10 years sober, occasionally podcasting and writing about living an alcohol-free lifestyle.
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He calls his meetups Breaking Bread. They started as a way for the Ohio native, who moved to Milwaukee in 2008, to find his tribe and get more civically involved. He started going to networking events and volunteering at a food pantry. It took some time, but Kennedy’s love of people, food and giving back drew people in.
By 2020, he was organizing intimate dinners out a few times a month, inviting up to 12 guests for a klatch with no agenda or specific outcome in mind, often connecting people who didn’t know each other.
The events serve a larger purpose, sometimes organically leading to a larger volunteering effort. And they always support a local restaurant, often in the Black or AAPI communities, “helping people step out of their social comfort zone, to motivate them and help them embrace a culture they’re not familiar with,” he says.
Meetups have been at Pepperpot in Bronzeville, Vientiane Noodle Shop in Silver City and Momo Mee in the Harbor District, and Breaking Bread frequents Carnevor, The Bridgewater and Screaming Tuna, among others.
“I’m very humbled that I can go to really any community or neighborhood and be embraced, because my intention is to elevate [restaurants’] visibility and really do it in my way,” says Kennedy.
He chooses invitees for Breaking Bread carefully, vetting prospects who ask to join or are recommended with a one-on-one hangout beforehand so they can get to know one another.
“That might be me being over intentional or maybe too protective of people’s time,” he says. “But I want to make sure they’re not just doing this for the social media clicks or comments or because they want to be in a photo with” the other attendees.
Joe Flick’s initiation into Breaking Bread was in 2022, at a meal honoring his mentor, Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski. Flick, a fire lieutenant and founder of Ignite the Spirit MKE, says the gatherings are special because “you never quite know who will be there or why. … It is never about ‘work,’ and there is never an ‘ask.’ Just genuinely good people connecting over shared interests.”
For Kennedy, the events fill a fundamental need for companionship – and more. “I do not like eating alone,” he laughs. “Too many times you have your core friends or your core group, but if you really want to make a difference in the community and reframe the narrative, it’s really about creating that sense of community, and for me, the way to do that is to break bread.”
May is National AAPI Month. Asian Restaurant Week is May 18-24 and the AAPI Heritage Month Dinner with Marquette’s Lubar Center is May 18. elevasianwi.com
