Students enjoy cultural diversity through tasty event

Riverside, Calif. (Oct. 2, 2019) – Harden Square at California Baptist University transformed into a melting pot of aromas and cuisines as hundreds of students took part in the Taste the Nations event on Oct. 1. The event, hosted by the International Student Services, featured food booths that offered small portions of international treats.

Leslie Shelton, director of International Student Services, said the event is a fall tradition at CBU that aims to introduce international cuisines to the CBU community.

“We have a lot of snack foods for people to just try and give them a short introduction into other cultures’ food,” Shelton said. “We hope that domestic students and international students can come together, and that they are all able to mingle and just have a good time in order to build community.”  

Food booths featured unique entries such as flings (maize puffs) and plantain chips from Africa; dried seaweed and pocky (chocolate-coated biscuit sticks) from East Asia; and maamoul biscuits and baklava (sweet pastry) from the Middle East. There were also exotic food options such as beondegi (silkworm larvae) from Korea.

Lucas Mitose, a senior in health care administration, enjoyed the experience. He even tried the beondegi, which is a popular snack sold by street vendors in Korea.