Few of us can deny that the promise of free pizza or cookies has drawn us to meetings on inauspicious Sunday evenings. It is also true that many of those meetings have introduced us to the groups we belong to today. Without always being cognizant of the relationship, we continue to learn about our incredibly diverse student body through food—eating and cooking together. Food brings people to a common space; food is a common language.
These reasons explain the success of last Saturday’s World Food Fair. Sponsored by Pangea, Wesleyan’s international student organization, the event showcased the diversity of our campus by appealing to an epicurious community.
“Previously, the event has been called the International Fair,” explained Winston Soh, co-chair of Pangea, “but we decided to re-brand it as the World Food Fair to make it more inclusive, and go beyond involving just the international community.”
The profits from this year’s event went to SHOFCO and Brighter Dawns in an effort to support Wesleyan’s own groups that are striving to improve conditions in other parts of the world through establishing cross-cultural rapports.
“Their involvement in making food for the fair also helps to offer a greater understanding for students, of the culture of the communities (Bangladesh and Kenya) that they are involved with,” Soh said.
The twelve student groups and organizations prepared a veritable smorgasbord of bites from Bangladesh to Bulgaria, each dish costing one, two, or three dollars per portion. The array included regionally distinct types of curry, pad thai, dim sum, and lesser-known dishes such as sev puri, a simple Indian street food with fragrant chickpea noodles, and ugali with sukuma wiki, a combination from Kenya which consists of a doughy starch used to scoop up a vegetable stew. (This required a quick tutorial in wrist technique). Every serving of the deceptively simple “chicken soup with noodles” was prepared to order by the students representing the Chinese Student Association, involving a methodical marinating of the chicken in a homemade sauce with herbs. An 8-year-old boy accompanied by a North End mentor enjoyed his French crepe and strawberry milkshake across the table from me, eyeing the pork dishes being carried away from the Taiwanese Student Association’s popular station.
Varied in the stylings of distinct cuisines, every dish was prepared with great consideration for authenticity—recreating the taste that is so familiar to some but foreign to others. If food is a common language, it relies on the willingness of exchange. This was the clear takeaway.
The World Food Fair exceeded its goals despite coinciding with Passover and Easter weekend and operating on a lowered budget. The event turned a profit and garnered much positive feedback. Students, professors, and Middletown community members alike gathered in Beckham Hall on a Saturday morning to enjoy the international cuisine, perhaps guided by more than their appetites.