The art of building a community through dumplings often gets lost in the fold. If you’re fiending a feed on campus, the best place to head is 'The Dumpling Lady'. Here, perched in the shade of Union Hall across from the OUSA arches, you'll find Catherine Page and her trusty sous-chef working hard.
Catherine hails from a dumpling dynasty; her father owns Rising Sun Dumplings on Moray Place. After picking up a few lessons from him, she decided to open her own food truck eight years ago. Equipped with a short and sweet menu, Catherine parked up on Albany Street, ready to feed the students passing by the Museum. It wasn't long before someone from the Uni offered her the permanent spot next to Auahi Ora. “I wasn't gonna turn that down,” she said.
Catherine was close to arriving late to her interview with Critic Te Ārohi. Her job title should also include ‘professional yapper', as she was spotted catching up with two people setting up for Onefest who she’d bumped into on her way into the office. Later, the interview was interrupted when OUSA Secretary Donna Jones stopped by for a welcome chat. It seems that The Dumpling Lady is becoming a bona fide BNOC (big name on campus). With all these people flocking to her side for a convo, it’s pretty likely Catherine knows more about the inside workings of the OUSA than the organisation’s own President, Liam White. When asked why she thinks people stop by her stall for lunch, Catherine cheekily answers, "Hopefully because they like me… and enjoy the dumplings, too." It’s safe to say both are true.
To prove the point further, Catherine recalls a group of boys that used to stop by every day. ”Slowly seeing them grow up like that” was such a joy, she reminisced. She still keeps in touch with them, and one of the boys is known to ring her on the way home from “wherever he's become intoxicated.” On other occasions he has FaceTimed her from the top of an Austrian ski slope.
Catherine and her husband used to be dairy farmers, but they now find themselves working together in their "commercial style kitchen at home" preparing dumplings. On campus she cooks up the chicken, pork, and vegetarian dumplings alongside the chicken fried rice and the range of bao buns. Catherine says that she doesn't want “a big menu where I can't keep up.” Her aim is to “just keep it simple and [...] easy” – highlighting her quality over quantity approach.
When uni students have all migrated home to enjoy their ‘brat summers’, The Dumpling Lady spreads across a wide range of events. Most notable is the Dunedin Beer Festival, Rhythm & Alps, and Electric Ave. Typically festivals tend to take just over 20% of profits away from vendors alongside their rent. This means she has to bump up prices, though she sincerely adds, “I'm not one for just putting things up for the sake of putting things up.” She laughed about "a couple of guys" at R&A that tried to pay her with "a little bag of something" (more than legal tender). She wholeheartedly declined the boys’ offer, telling them to have fun "as long as they stay safe and get it tested." Later that evening the queue for dumplings moved “continuously for multiple hours.” To help manage the demand Catherine had to recruit some friends that popped by the stall. Some R&R was definitely her next priority.
Following a big weekend of serving drunken festival goers in Christchurch for Electric Ave, you will find The Dumpling Lady back on campus. And on sunny days you’ll see Union Lawn flooded with satisfied customers chowing down on a pack of delectable dumplings.