DumpLinLins: Heritage, healing and community through the art of dumplings | HerCanberra

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DumpLinLins: Heritage, healing and community through the art of dumplings

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Living in Sydney, LinLin Kearney admits that like “all bratty Canberra kids of the millennium” she had vowed never to return to her hometown. But that changed in 2020.

“My Dad had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and so I moved back to look after him, alongside my sister and brother. COVID hit, and like for everyone, life changed dramatically. It was a really hard time but also a really beautiful time being back in my hometown after leaving when I was 20 and bittersweet reconnecting with my Dad in his last days. Time slowed down and we were gifted with some really meaningful and healing moments together alongside the pain.”

In a state of flux having just ended a relationship and quitting her job as a naturopath, LinLin found herself “unemployed and living back in Canberra, alone and grieving”.

“Before he died, [Dad] gave me some poignant advice for how to keep on living. He told me that I was on the right track, to keep following my heart, to slow down, and to have faith that everything will work out.”

“It was a pretty intense life change but in that new space of solitude and kind of ‘rock bottom-ness’ I was able to lean into my grief and start to discern what was really important in life, what I wanted to do next and, alongside therapy, start to unpack a lot of personal issues around identity as a mixed-race person.”

LinLin Kearney

In the midst of her grief, LinLin turned to a childhood memory. One that kept her hands busy and her mind calm.

“I don’t know if I realised this so consciously at the time but upon reflection I think my longing for connection and belonging to my Asian heritage was what sparked my obsession with making dumplings. COVID meant no trave, and food is such a beautiful way to connect with culture when you can’t be amongst it. Making dumplings was something that my Thai mother would often do when we were growing up, making hundreds of them at a time, which was something she learned from her mother – a Chinese immigrant to Thailand.”

“I was so curious about my Chinese roots – my name is Chinese, but I’ve always felt more of a connection to Thailand – so it felt like something I needed to do to reclaim a part of me that I felt disconnected and dormant. Food became a huge part of how I did that – researching different types of dumplings, exploring new flavours and playing around with different ingredients. I was dissatisfied with the vego dumplings on offer and wanted to make something that was just as flavoursome as the meat ones. I’m also really particular with my dumpling sauce and that was another obsession that took hold.”

“Alongside all of that, I think after working in a service profession for so long,  I was craving a way to express my creativity and there was something so beautiful and satisfying about working with my hands, the shredding of the vegetables, the texture of the dough, the intricacy of the folding, it became a practice in mindfulness, a way to create and feel connected – to myself, my culture, my ancestors.”

“I got lost in the hours I spent folding, the motion of it felt like something ancient I was tapping into, something that I could embody despite not being born there or speaking the language. The act of folding dumplings became a nourishing spiritual practice of creativity and connection at a time when I needed it most.”

LinLin folding dumplings.

At the end of the process, LinLin was left with a sense of peace…and hundreds of dumplings.

“The initial idea was to do private dumpling dinner nights for friends, but what manifested was a dumpling and life drawing event at WILUNA, which then turned into a pop-up lunch at [Dairy Road’s] Nourish & Breathe, which then turned into a weekly ‘Hump Day Dump Day’ pop-up.”

One day, someone asked LinLin whether they could take some frozen dumplings home and a new idea was sparked.

“I posted onto my Instagram a menu of frozen packs of dumps with an instruction to slide into my DMs with “dump me”. I had a laugh to myself at the ridiculousness of it all and went to bed.”

In the morning, LinLin woke up to hundreds of messages.

“I didn’t have packaging, I didn’t have a website, I didn’t really know what I was doing but it felt real and joyful and authentic so I just winged it, remembering my Dad’s advice to follow my heart and have faith that things would work out.”

Photo: Sami Harper.

Soon, LinLin had hired a driver to help deliver the backlog of orders, with a months-long waiting list of people wanting to get ‘dumped’.

“It was a really bizarre time,” reflects LinLin. “It was lockdown in Canberra and a lot of businesses were struggling yet mine was kind of booming – completely unplanned – just a very organic and lucky chain of events that saw me offering home delivery dumplings exactly when they were needed most.”

Still without a website and taking orders via Instagram DM – which LinLin describes as “so chaotic” – DumpLinLins was born. With Canberra abiding by strict COVID guidelines and a rapidly expanding business never having been the plan, LinLin did her best to keep up with her growing fanbase, with hilarious results.

“Countless times customers were like “Wait do you mean $72 not $27?” or I realised I had delivered orders to the wrong house because I can’t read my own handwriting,” laughs LinLin. “But I loved the intimacy of talking to each customer personally, having a chat about the dumps or just their day, seeing photos of how they had cooked them or their pet lusting after them and waving at them through the windows when I dropped the orders. That was such a beautiful and random form of connection in a time of isolation that I was really lucky to have.”

Fast forward to 2024 and DumpLinLins now offers a wide range of dumplings for delivery on a fortnightly basis, has catered the small wedding of one of LinLin’s friends whose wife had never tried her food before (“a huge honour”), received a shout out from Onzieme Owner and Chef Louis Couttoupes in Qantas Magazine, has launched a line of merch LinLin loves seeing on people around town and overseas, has expanded its offerings to curries and sauces (including the signature Dumpling Sauce, affectionally called ‘crack sauce’ by fans) and LinLin has nailed 14 folds on her dumplings (“I started doing four!”).

Other milestones include having people say “Wait, LinLin as in DumpLinLins?!” when she introduces herself, holding collaboration events with other small businesses across Canberra and “having customers who have now become some of my best friends”. All in all, it’s been a successful reintroduction to the city she once wanted to escape.

“The support and welcome from the Canberra community has been astounding and something I’m so grateful for. Sorry I hated on you so hard growing up, Canberra.”

As for those who are yet to ‘get dumped’, orders can be made through the DumpLinLins website with contactless deliveries happening fortnightly between 5 and 7 pm. Just in time for dinner.

LinLin also urges customers to keep an eye on the Instagram, which details special offerings and events, such as The Lab x DumpLinLins pop-up on Friday 30 August at The Lab’s Manuka studio, where you can book in for a brow tint and tidy with a side of DumpLinLins from 6 pm – 9 pm. LinLin will be serving up Northern Thai Khao Soi alongside vegan dumps and Matcha Mochi so you can “come for the brows, stay for the dumps.”

As for what’s next for LinLin, the future is looking delicious.

“I have some other passion projects that I’m working on as well as studying part time so I’m just going with the flow at the moment,” she says. “There is a new crispy chilli oil in the works and maybe some more merch, but I think a big focus for the future is on collaborative events. I love working with other businesses and creatives to scheme up fun ideas so if you want to collab, hit me up!”

Feature image: Sami Harper.

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