Ouachita Stories

The room is warm from all the jostling bodies and the smiles. Food and friends are what we are all about when the International Food Festival comes around. It is a lot of fun to plan the event, especially this semester because my sister is on the committee. But it is even more fun to serve alongside friends and to see the surprise on people's faces when they taste our food, in a good way.

Once a year, OBU international students and locals bring their favorite foods to Walker Conference Center to show off their culture. Many people from the International Club make food for the night. Last year a guy made biltong which is African Jerky, someone else made milk tart and we also had curry and coconut balls from India.

I have made sadza and rape (it's a vegetable) as well as Yorkshire pudding in the past. I am thinking about making meat pies in the future. Each person makes just a single pan of their food and people get to come around and sample them. This way we can feed about 500 people with 70 different foods in one evening.

The International Club is a great place to get to know new people because we meet regularly and the internationals always want to learn more about how to make the most of their time in the U.S. At our last meeting we made ramen noodles, Italian cracker dip, French bread and potato dip and just hung out.

An international will never turn you down, they (we) love getting to know Americans and learning about all the strange things Americans do, like chicken fried steak, knee high gaps in toilet cubicles, calling it a restroom as if it's a place to rest?, 16oz as the small size and playing "football" with their hands! America is a fantastic country and it's because of the people and we want to get to know you. So come to the International Club Lile Hall 330 Monday's at 9:00 and take a break and check out the international food festival Tuesday, February 17 at 6:00. http://obu.edu/intedu/international-food-festival/

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By Ben Lange-Smith, junior