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Crepes, fried rice, miso soup, and other unlikely dishes were served side by side at the International Student Council's Fall Feast.
International student organizations came together to serve their cultures' tastiest dishes to roughly 400 hungry students Saturday in the Recreation Center.
Shri Pendakur, a senior from Bangalore, India, studying advertising and president of the International Student Council, said the Fall Feast was a new event and an upgrade from the Ramadan dinner the council has hosted in the past.
"We wanted to do a more secular event," Pendakur said. "One of the biggest attractions we have as a cultural community is the different varieties of cultural food people are cooking."
Eight different student groups served more than 13 different dishes throughout the night.
Ogden Dlima, a graduate student from India in electrical engineering, said he cooked for five hours to prepare for the event. Dlima served shrimp and vegetable stir fry on behalf of Delta Psi Alpha, a multicultural fraternity.
The French Club, Indian Student Organization, Japanese Student Association, Malaysian Student Organization and the Saudi Student Society were among the groups that brought dishes for the feast.
Fraternities Sigma Lambda Beta and Omega Delta Phi also prepared dishes for the event.
Sandra Duran, a graduate student from El Salvador in linguistics, said she enjoyed the food but would have liked an event that provided more interaction.
Ra'id Shomali, a doctoral student from Palestine in marketing, agreed.
"I would have loved to see more Americans," he said.
Some of the dishes served included chicken kurma, saliq, kunafi, stir fry, and Japanese pancakes.
Ashby Maryo, a junior from Malaysia studying finance and treasurer of the Malaysian Student Association, served a fried fish dish that was prepared from a family recipe. Maryo said he thought this event was the most successful one hosted by the council.
Pendakur agreed.
"We had amazing turnout," he said.
While all students seemed to enjoy the food, they couldn't agree on what was the best dish.
"The one that was well cooked was the shrimp stir fry," Shomali said.
Duran disagreed, saying that she liked the Palestinian chicken the best.
Abedin Jamal, a graduate student from Afghanistan studying linguistics, could not decide on his favorite food.
"It was all good," he said.
Kathleen Richards can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 262 or klr12788@siu.edu.
