By 11:30 last Saturday morning, Usdan 110 resembled an international pancake house, serving American flapjacks, potato latkes, beghri pancakes, scallion pancakes, nutella crepes, Russian crepes, Kenyan chapattis, Russian crepes, and okonomiyaki to hungry University students.
The IHOP event was led by International House in conjunction with Japanese Hall, Community Service House, the Bayit, Turath House, Chinese House, French Hall, Russian House, and SHOFCO. Instead of the normal menu one would find at a local IHOP, the event featured breakfast creations from all over the world. Each program house was in charge of contributing 100 griddlecakes to raise money for Shining Hope.
“Three dollars feeds a student or staff member for a week,” said French Hall manager and SHOFCO member Lucy Britt ’14.
In lieu of the $3 entrance fee, some students brought canned goods, which were donated to the Middletown chapter of Food Not Bombs, a non-profit that has been a nationwide organization since the height of the nuclear power movement, protesting against war while giving food to those in need.
Each attendee was given the opportunity to try each of the nine pancake types in order to get the full international experience. Nine icons—one for each pancake—were printed on tickets to the event.
“The Dutch apple pancakes were delectable; every bite melted in my mouth,” said Bayit member Carolyn Lipp ’14. “They could have made $10 off of me eating those alone.”
European, American, and Asian musical hits blared through speakers throughout the event. Russian house manager Elyas Saif ’13 was in charge of choosing a large portion of the music.
“I chose mainstream European music, including ‘Groove On’ by Timati featuring Snoop Dog, a Russian hit,” Saif said.
Nicole Okai ’14, International House Manager, was the head organizer for the event. Various program houses contributed by sending volunteers and cooking the thousands of pancakes necessary to make the event a success.
“We live in the Bayit, so at the house meeting they just asked people to table at IHOP from 11 to 1, and we tried to chip in,” Lipp said.
The event was certainly not easy to plan given the large number of volunteers and program houses involved.
“It was a lot of work, because every house making 100 pancakes is a lot of effort and organizing, but it came together nicely,” Britt said.
“We wanted to keep the authenticity of the cultural pancakes and the toppings that went with them, so it was hard to make hundreds of them,” Okai added. “It takes a lot of manpower to make such specialty pancakes.”
125 people attended, $329 was raised, and over 30 cans were collected. Volunteers and attendees agreed that the event was a success; in fact, the event was so well-attended that some students were asked to wait outside while early ticket buyers were served first, as pancakes were disappearing quickly.
“Anything with the name SHOFCO on campus is successful,” said Margerite Suozzo-Gole ’15. “You can see people eating pancakes everywhere!”
Nonetheless, according to Okai, the high attendance was the best part of the event.
“Based on its success, we would like to make this an I-House tradition, maybe with different co-sponsors next time, such as German House and Full House,” she said.