Ouachita Stories

The 2015 International Food Festival, hosted by Ouachita Baptist University’s International Club and Daniel and Betty Jo Grant Center for International Education, will be held on Feb. 17 from 6-8 p.m. in Walker Conference Center. Tickets will be sold at the door for $5 each.

Ian Cosh, OBU’s vice president for community and international engagement, describes the festival as a “signature event at OBU that seeks to highlight the international dimension of our unique community.”

The event is designed for Ouachita students, faculty and staff who have either lived or spent time abroad to share that experience with others. It serves as an opportunity not only to bring together members of the Ouachita community but also to provide a global context, reminding participants that they all are citizens of the world.

For many Ouachita students with international ties, “it’s the first time they have been able to give back to the community and share their life story with the community,” noted Sharon Cosh, a staff coordinator for the event and OBU’s English as a Second Language program. “It’s a very bonding experience for them as a group and also a pretty unique experience for all of us that we can share in.”

“Imagine 500 people milling around Walker Conference Center tasting samples of foods from all over the world,” said International Club President Ben Lange-Smith, a junior psychology major from Harare, Zimbabwe. “The festival is held only once per year, and, as you can imagine, internationals and third culture students go all out to show off their culture and also to excite your taste buds!”

This year’s theme is “Passport to the World” and will feature food from more than 30 countries, cultures and regions. Over the decades, the event has grown to include other cultural elements, as well.

“There is a legacy with it,” Ian Cosh added. “We’ve done it now for at least 40 years, and every year the event is a medium of telling a story. We tell that story through taste, music and all of the human senses, in a way that unites students from around the world.”

Musical entertainment will be provided by international students singing in their native languages as well as American students with international connections.

“For instance, one of the students will be singing in a language that he went to study in Europe,” Sharon Cosh noted. “The foreign language program is an added dimension to the whole international emphasis on our campus.”

The Arkansas Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union will also host a world market with fair trade products for sale at the event. Proceeds from the world market benefit women around the world who come from poor socioeconomic countries and are working for a better life by earning money through a fair process that is seldom found in their settings.

While Lange-Smith is always excited to see the theme, décor and entertainment come together, he said his favorite part is sampling the cuisine. “I would be lying if I said I didn't come mainly for the food. I'm big on taste and love food. That is why this is a killer event in my book.”

For more information about the food festival, contact Tanya Jackson, administrative assistant in the Grant Center, at [email protected] or 870-245-5197.

 

By Lauren Scarbrough