The annual International Food Festival brings a variety of cultures and their foods under one roof for the enjoyment of all.
The festival, which was held on Nov. 23 this year, supports Lakeland’s Global Student Association (GSA) and draws in a huge crowd every year, full of people willing to try some cultural delicacies that some Americans might never have tasted.
Community members began to arrive as early as 5:20 p.m. to ensure that they would have a seat when the event began at 6 p.m.
Students from nine different countries cooked and served their cultural dishes. The flags of China, Japan, Nigeria, Peru, Ghana, South Korea, Russia, Kenya, and Mexico were all displayed proudly behind their corresponding tables.
An American student, Tiffany Miller, senior German major, has been involved with the International Food Festival over the years and seemed truly excited to see this year’s festival come together.
“I love that we can all have different foods that we haven’t had before and that many people probably don’t know how to make,” said Miller.
Miller has a passion for Japanese culture that showed as she donned a traditional Japanese happi coat to help serve green tea pudding and other dishes alongside her similarly passionate friends.
Other popular dishes at the festival included a bean and rice dish from Ghana, a fried pastry with a meat filling called a samosa from Kenya, tamales from Mexico, and a crepe-like dessert called blin from Russia that had festival-goers lined up by the dozens when they had finished sampling the variety of main courses.
Gina Liang, a Chinese accounting student who is spending the semester in the United States, said she was very excited for the International Food Festival.
“I have never been involved in this ever before,” said Liang. “I can gather with people from so many different countries, not just American countries, but also other Asian countries and Latin American countries.”
Alice Antwi-Asimeng, president of GSA and senior accounting major, says that GSA has been planning the event since September.
“It takes lots of work to get different countries together to showcase their food,” said Antwi-Asimeng.
“That’s the main objective of International Food Festival.”
Antwi-Asimeng is looking forward to GSA’s next big event, International Night, on April 18.
Furthermore, Antwi-Asimeng encourages all types of intercultural interaction within the club and says, “If domestic students want to join GSA, we are open to it.”