International Food Festival

September 16, 2011

I don’t like seafood, I am not a huge fan of cheese, I’ll send back anything with mayonnaise or ranch dressing, forget about cream cheese or sour cream, and if it is pink inside – it better go back on the grill. I’m a picky eater. Everyone knows it and tries to encourage it out of me. I must say, despite the lack of credit given to me, I have made great advances in the world of culinary taste testing over the last couple of years. All this growth I have made was matched and exceeded at the International Food Festival today. The empty plate given to me as I entered the gymnasium was piled high with samplings of food from at least a dozen countries! If I do say so myself, in regard to growing less picky, I succeeded with flying colors!

In conjunction with the Parade of Nations, families from almost all 83 countries prepared traditional dishes for the AISJ International Food Festival. Spread across the entire gymnasium, tables were culturally decorated and topped with side dishes, main course, and deserts. It was incredible – the smells were divine, the options endless, and the plates weighted with more food than any one person EVER needs to eat: German chocolate cake, American turkey and chocolate chip cookies, Belgium waffles, Japanese sushi, South African milk tarts and biltong, Mexican tortillas and salsa, Indian samoosas, English scones, Hungarian sausages, Pakistani curried stew, Israeli falafels and hummus, Swedish meatballs, and so much more. Table after table of international cuisine that tempted and satisfied even the pickiest of eaters!

Following the smorgasbord, walking back to my class, I contemplated rolling down the hill because it would be easier than carrying my weighted load. Only two other times in my life am I ever that full: Thanksgiving and Christmas. The only thing that would make this Food Festival better would be if it repeated itself weekly!