Culture Festival Recap By Kyra Chang & Cassidy Mammay
One of the best things about Culture Fest was all the food the students made to represent their cultures. The event was held on Friday, December 13, and the students had spent a lot of time preparing for it. IB Culture Fest was an event where students were given a chance to share things about their cultures, such as food, facts, and performances. One country that was represented was Jamaica. Over many weeks, the students had to create a board with information about Jamaica, as well as plan what food was going to be made. Two of the students in the group, juniors Izzy Roy and Arianna Johnson cooked food for everyone to enjoy at the event.
Roy had been given the experience to cook something very new once she decided to represent Jamaica. “I decided to represent Jamaica because my close friend is Jamaican and I wanted to learn more about the culture and I’ve always wanted to travel there so it would be cool to learn more things about the country,” said Roy. There were several foods that Roy and Johnson prepared for their stand. “The food we prepared was banana bread, jerk chicken, jerk pork, and rice and peas,” said Johnson. “We chose these foods because they are staples of Jamaican cuisine, and they are the most traditional foods that you will find when you go to Jamaica. They are simple but classic dishes that are loved by many.” As mentioned before, Roy had been given the opportunity to make something new, so she made the banana bread. “I made the banana bread, which was like a traditional banana bread but had a lime glaze and included Greek yogurt and coconut in the batter. It took around two and a half hours to make four loafs,” said Roy.
Johnson also put in a lot of effort into cooking. “I made the jerk pork, the jerk chicken, and the rice peas. I can’t give out too many ingredients as it’s a family recipe, but I will say the ingredients for the jerk items were jerk seasoning, along with lots more of those seasonings, and some herbs, like thyme. For the rice and peas, the ingredients were pretty basic, like red kidney beans, salt, garlic, and some other things I can’t disclose,” said Johnson. The secret recipe had been in the family for a long time. “The recipe has been in my family for over 44 years, starting with my mom cooking with my great grandmother Ethel,” said Johnson. All of the cooking she had to do took a lot of time. “In total it took me two days. The first day I marinated the meats so that the flavor could really soak in. The next day I started grilling the meats, along with making the rice and peas,” said Johnson.
As well as their table, a lot of the other represented countries had very good food. “My favorite food I tried at culture fest was Italy’s tiramisu because it just tasted so good,” said Roy. Many other countries had fantastic food, such as Cuba with their congris and ropa vieja, Canada and their poutine, Germany with their pretzel bites and many more. The culture fest went well, with most of the food from all the stands being eaten and fantastic performances to follow.
By Kyra Chang
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The IB Culture Festival was one of the school's most popular events. At the event, students in the International Baccalaureate program and others set up tables to show off the cultures from around the world. The event has multiple different parts. Each table has something to show the people who attended the event, including posters and food. The food made up a big part of the event. Each table has one or more food or dessert items made by the students working the table. The people who attended the event were able to try foods from all over the world.
Maylin Kabaservice, a junior in the IB program worked the Canada table at the festival. She mentioned “Well there were lots of different foods and desserts for each booth but my booth was Canada and we were each assigned a food to make. Ruby Vanderwyst made nanamino bars which was this dessert that was fantastic, Myles Alonzi made Putin which is gravery french fries and cheese curds, and I made pancakes,” said Kabaservice. Along with that, Dallas Olmstead, a junior in the IB program, worked the Mexico table. “I made Tres leche,” said Olmstead. There were also other foods on the Mexico table made by other students.
One thing about food is that it has to be prepared and made in a way specific to each item. Kabaservice said “I can’t speak for my other group members but my process was a little more than an hour cooking tiny miniature pancakes and then putting them in a Tupperware when they were done, my mom helped me and we had a little system where I pour the batter onto the pan and she flips the pancakes and that worked great,” said Kabaservice. The process of making pancakes is very different than the process of making Tres Leche. Olmstead mentioned “My mom makes really good tres leche for family gatherings and birthdays, so together, her and I made tres leche cupcakes so they would be easier to serve to people,” said Olmstead. Making food can be a fun process and it can often bring people together, as it did for both Kabaservice and Olmstead.
With these foods and desserts, they are all of cultural significance to each country. Kabaserive said “There are all classic foods that you would be able to find in the country, but for the pancakes Canada is more famous for their maple syrup so Ruby Vanderwyst brought that and we served pancakes and maple syrup,” said Kabaservice. Whether it was the food itself, or a topping to the food, the pancakes with maple syrup made by Kabaserive represent a part of Canada. With the Tres Leche for Mexico, Olmstead said “It’s a popular dessert across Latin America and is a standard celebration cake,” said Olmstead. All of the food at every table represents the country in its own way.
By Cassidy Mammay