Open Kitchen Luncheon Celebrates Campus Diversity Through Global Cuisine
Dec. 1, 2016
As part of the U.S. Department of State celebration of International Education Week, the Office of International Student and Scholar Services (ISS), together with the Brooklyn College Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences and the Brooklyn College Health and Nutrition Science Club hosted an Open Kitchen luncheon on November 15 in Roosevelt Hall to celebrate diversity in global cuisine.
Students and faculty sampled cuisine from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China, Russia, Jamaica, and France, among others. “Events like this can help broaden cultural awareness among our campus population,” said Director of International Student and Scholar Services Keisha Wilson. “This is our first world cuisine event but students enjoyed themselves, so hopefully we’ll do more.”
Health and nutrition major Patricia Pauyo, who is the treasurer of the Health and Nutrition Club, fries cassava with the club’s vice president Naudia Jones in the Food Science Laboratory.
Health and nutrition major Sally Hawana from Alexandria, Egypt, serves ful, a dish made with fava beans at the Open Kitchen luncheon.
Computer science major Mojahed Ahmed (l) and master’s candidate in business and economics Majed Gushgari, both from western Saudi Arabia, serve a spiced chicken-and-rice dish called kabsa.
Mojahed Ahmed smiles for the camera, while diners help themselves to kabsa, a chicken-based recipe from Saudi Arabia.
From left: Health and Nutrition Club Vice President Naudia Jones; Professor Patricia Cai, a lecturer in kinesiology in the Department of Athletics; health and nutrition major Letao Wang; and health and nutrition major Patricia Pauyo surround Natasha Griffiths, a screenwriting student at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. Griffiths cooked Jamaican ackee and saltfish with breadfruit for the event.
Participants were encouraged to choose a dish that took less than an hour to prepare and bring their ingredients to the Food Science Laboratory to cook. As the Health and Nutrition Club adviser, Adjunct Lecturer Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky M.P.H., a doctoral candidate on public health at the CUNY Graduate Center/School of Public Health and Health Policy, oversaw preparations.
A key part of the Division of Enrollment Management, the ISS assists international students and scholars with visa and immigration processes and compliance, provides referrals to both on- and off-campus resources, and serves as an advocate for international students.
