Orange Elaichi and Diwali Festival Light Up Cupertino, CA
Cupertino's South Asian diaspora has two vibrant stories to celebrate this season: the rise of Orange Elaichi, a vegan Indian-inspired bakery pop-up run by Culinary Institute of America-trained pastry chef Janki Chauhan, which has been drawing loyal Sunday morning crowds at the De Anza College Farmers Market with mango lassi bundt cakes, saffron-infused pastries, and chai oatmeal cookies that bridge the South Asian culinary tradition with modern plant-based baking. The city is also counting down to October 11, when the 23rd Annual Bay Area Diwali Festival of Lights returns to Cupertino Memorial Park for a free, full-day celebration that regularly attracts more than 13,000 people of all backgrounds. Together, these stories are a vivid portrait of Cupertino as one of Silicon Valley's most dynamic centres of South Asian culture—a city where desi food innovation and decades-old community traditions sit side by side and continue to thrive.
🍛 Orange Elaichi: Cupertino's Vegan Indian Pastry Pop-Up Finds Its Following
On Sunday mornings at the De Anza College Farmers Market in Cupertino, a devoted crowd gathers at a stand fragrant with saffron, cardamom, and fresh pastry. The draw is Orange Elaichi, a vegan Indian-inspired bakery pop-up founded by Janki Chauhan, a trained pastry chef and Culinary Institute of America alumna who completed her professional studies at campuses in both Napa and New York. Chauhan launched the pop-up in 2024 as a way to connect directly with customers and refine her recipes through immediate, in-person feedback. The business officially adopted the name Orange Elaichi in 2025 and has since cultivated a devoted local following that grows week by week. Her signature creations represent a genuine marriage of South Asian culinary heritage and Western pastry craft: mango lassi bundt cakes, chai oatmeal cookies, and artisan bundt cakes infused with delicate desi flavors—rose, pistachio, orange, and saffron—each one carefully crafted to evoke the spice pantries of the subcontinent. Crucially, every item on the Orange Elaichi menu is fully vegan. Chauhan applies the food science she learned at the Culinary Institute to substitute eggs and dairy without compromising texture, crumb, or taste—a technical achievement that makes her baked goods as appealing to health-conscious Bay Area residents as they are to nostalgic South Asian shoppers. Orange Elaichi is exactly the kind of boundary-pushing, community-centred food venture that defines Cupertino's evolving South Asian food culture. [1]
🪔 Cupertino Hosts 23rd Annual Bay Area Diwali Festival of Lights on October 11
Cupertino's most beloved annual cultural celebration is back: the 23rd Annual Bay Area Diwali Festival of Lights will light up Memorial Park on Saturday, October 11, 2025, running from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in a free, family-friendly event open to everyone. Organized by the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, the festival has grown into one of the largest Diwali celebrations in Northern California, routinely welcoming more than 13,000 visitors from across the Bay Area and beyond. This year's programme includes multicultural music and dance performances representing the region's diverse South Asian communities, hands-on arts and crafts workshops, an array of traditional and contemporary food vendors, and a dedicated kid's zone designed for families with young children. KQED's annual Bay Area Diwali roundup places the Cupertino gathering at the centre of the region's South Asian cultural calendar, alongside other celebrations including the Diwali Mela at ICC Milpitas and festivities at Westmont High School in Campbell. Now in its 23rd consecutive year, the Cupertino festival is a testament to the depth and permanence of the Indian and broader South Asian community in Silicon Valley's most iconic tech city. Diwali, the festival of lights that symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance, holds profound spiritual significance across Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist traditions, and Cupertino's celebration has long served as the heart of the community's autumn gathering. [2]
Sources: [1] San José Spotlight · [2] KQED