Ouachita students and the Arkadelphia community are invited to take a culinary trip around the world through Ouachita’s annual International Food Festival on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in Walker Conference Center.
A joint effort of the International Club and the Daniel and Betty Jo Grant Center for International Education, the festival aims to make students more aware and appreciative of the various cultures represented within their own community.
“The concept of food fest is to give people on Ouachita’s campus a taste of the different cultures that are around them,” said Dylan Bester, a sophomore business major from Johannesburg, South Africa, and the head of sponsors and volunteers for the festival. “We’ve got international students that are from all over the world, and they’re experiencing American culture every single day, especially in terms of food like the cafeteria and Sandella’s and Chick-fil-a. The food festival is a chance for the Americans to experience all of these different cultures at once through food.”
International students, missionary kids and students who have studied abroad will prepare and serve dishes from around the world at the festival. These students will serve as representatives of the countries they hail from or studied in. About 30 countries are represented on Ouachita’s campus, and among those to be represented at the festival are Japan, Honduras, Chile, Brazil, China, Germany, Zimbabwe and more.
The theme for this year’s festival, “Under Every Banner,” is a nod to Song of Solomon 2:4—“Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.” It celebrates Ouachita’s multicultural community and hopes to set a tone of unity for the festival.
“The theme finds its root in Song of Solomon and refers to the many flags of the countries represented on campus,” said Amy Gattis, assistant director of International Education. “It’s celebrating the idea that Scripture tells us we’re created in the image of God, and that culture and diversity is something to be celebrated.”
“Every single one of us comes from a different culture, ethnicity, whatever your background is, but we’re all under one banner of Christ. We have one connection through the church, and that’s what we’re embracing and rejoicing in,” Bester said.
Keeping with the global focus of the event, this year’s festival will partner with Campus Ministries and Residence Life to help provide relief to refugees living in America.
Students are encouraged to help put together welcome kits for refugees, which will be distributed by the Campus Ministries team going to Memphis to work with World Relief over spring break. At the festival, booths will be set up that demonstrate the types of food that might be served to those living at refugee camps. The Women’s Mission Union (WMU), a regular vendor at the festival, will continue their tradition of setting up a marketplace of goods. Items sold by the WMU at this year’s festival will be hand made by refugees, with profits going back to benefit them.
“There are a lot of refugees in the United States at the moment, and one of the things we would like to do with the festival is provide awareness of what is going on, especially with all of the political things that are happening around us regarding refugees,” Bester said. “We believe that the best time to do this is during food fest, because the focus is on other people rather than ourselves.”
Students who wish to donate items for the refugee welcome kits may contact their RA or RD for more information. They are encouraged to donate toiletry items, such as toothbrushes, soaps and towels.
Students who wish to serve at the festival but do not feel comfortable cooking are encouraged to volunteer in other ways. To sign up to volunteer, visit the Grant Center’s website at obu.edu/intedu/en_US.
Tickets for the festival are $5 at the door. For more information on the International Food Festival, contact the Grant Center at (870) 245-5197.
– By Katie Kemp, news editor
