An Exchange of Flavors: STUISA hosts international food festival

 

For a small university, St. Thomas boasts a large international student population.

Students come from all over the world to study there, but the transition can often be difficult.  Many feel homesick for things such as food from their home country. That’s why last week, the St. Thomas University International Student Association (STUISA), hosted an international food festival.

The event is part of the mission of the association to help Canadians to get to know more about their international class mates.

“I feel like it’s the perfect way to get to know someone,” says international student Monica Bouquin, “just showing them my food is very different from yours, but it is still really good.”

Monica Bouquin and her twin sister Valeria Bouquin moved to Canada last fall to attend STU. They are both from Honduras, but have really immersed themselves in STUISA where they both helped to plan the international food festival event. Monica says she enjoys sharing pieces of her home with the Canadian students.

“We are able to with Canada, the Canadian students, a little bit of back home, to learn about our culture.”

Valeria Bouquin, who serves as the South American Rep. for STUISA cooked a transitional dish from her home country called Beleadas.

“This is a tortilla with smashed beans, eggs and something called like sour cream.”

However, says Valeria, sometimes Canada doesn’t have the right ingredients so they have to improvise. But the event doesn’t just introduce Canadians to international flavors, Valeria has become a big fan of an Ethiopian dish which features fish, spicy peppers and red onions.

“They eat it with tortilla and give gorshas to each other in the mouth.” Gorsha is the traditional way of feeding one another in Ethiopian culture.

The food festival also featured food from Vietnam, Brazil and Ecuador. Additionally, there was an fried dough made from an Indigenous recipe.

Food offered at the event drove many curious students to try new foods from around the world. A plate of food cost $15, a bit more expensive than the dinning hall but according to Monica Bouquin it was going to a good cause.

“The money is fund emergency bursaries for international student, so if something bad happens we the school will have money to help them.”

Monica says she is thankful for the money that the event was able to raise, but even more thankful for the people took part.

“It is just showing how diverse we are, but at the same time, how good that diversity is.”