Mohammed Almalallah eats some hummus with his former instructor, Julie Brown of the English Language Institute, and Zach Horat. (Eric Oravsky/Montana Kaimin)

International Culture and Food Festival

by Eric Oravsky | March 15, 2010 | Montana Kaimin

Upon turning your ticket into the bucket at the door your senses are hit by a cacophony of smells, colors and traditions. You are entering a summary of the world also known as the The Culture and Food Festival. Swedish meatballs overpower almost everything at the entrance, but they’re soon joined by pastas, curries, breads, sweets and just about anything your palate may be looking for on a quick world travel. There are Chinese speakers in the Kyi-yo line for fry bread, Arabic speakers in the Swedish line, and Greeks in the Taiwanese line.

Lines wrap around and merge together, creating a complex mess of happy people chattering in a variety of languages. After grabbing what food you can carry and slowly working your way upstairs, the sounds change from adult conversation to childish giggles and squeals of delight coming from Children’s World. Little painted faces check in and out with their own created passports for exploring origami, drumming, storytelling and face painting, among other activities equally fun for a stir-crazy mind.

From there one can follow the beat of the music up to the the third floor of the UC. After meandering through the of display booths that line the walls with information of culture, travel and campus groups, one can finally enter the ballroom and the last part of the festival: the performances. Singers, dancers, plays and other acts from near and far take the stage one after the other to applause from a packed audience.

At 5 p.m. it is all over and people begin to exit, talking about their favorite foods and performances while the volunteers and coordinators begin the cleanup. A year’s worth of work packed up and taken out. Now we all wait for next year.
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