Talk around campus is dotted with different accents, representing the diversity of students walking the halls. On February 21, international students will have the chance to present their cultures in a different way.
LISTEN: Rachel Spencer interviews Sharon Cosh, Ouachita’s ESL coordinator.
For $5, students can attend the International Food Festival in Walker Conference Center, where they can sample iconic foods from the different home countries of Ouachita’s international students.
On the surface, the International Food Festival is a chance to try new foods, socialize and pick up merchandise from the different booths, but the annual event’s purpose is much more than that.
“The International Food Festival celebrates our international culture,” said Ian Cosh, vice president for community and international engagement. “We’re getting to look at Ouachita through a different lens.”
“OBU has a good number of missionary kids, international students and former missionaries who have all lived outside of the States,” said Rene Zimny, assistant director of international education. “This event offers them a great way to share their culture through food, fellowship and entertainment.”
Both students and faculty work to plan the event so it can run successfully.
“We have a committee that consists of four faculty members and nine students,” Zimny said. “All of these students are very active in the International Club. In addition, we usually have up to 100 volunteers that help out in various areas.”
Zimny admitted there are some strange foods at the festival.
“Although it was part of the theme last year, the festival isn’t about weird foods,” he said.
Every year, the International Food Festival has a different theme.
“This year’s International Food Festival will have a marketplace theme,” Cosh said. “All the booths will look like little stores, and you’ll be able to sample different foods as well as buy different products that they have for sale.”
One of the booths set up at the event will be run by One Maker, a company started by a former Ouachita student that gives women in third world countries the chance to get a fair price for different items they have made.
“It [sells] things like jewelry made by women in third world countries,” Cosh said. “The main objective of the company is to give these women a fair return on their products, so that they can be economically independent.”
The International Food Festival is not only a unique opportunity for international students to share the cultures with the rest of the campus, but also a chance for the rest of the student body to do something new and different.
“It’s all about the experience,” Cosh said. “Come by and try it. Otherwise, you’re missing out on a great experience.”
Picture by Callie Stephens.
