By Fouz Khalid KHAN (2011 MPP, Pakistan)

The unique flavor of KDI School comes from being a true salad bowl of diverse cultures which you won’t find anywhere else in Korea. It is thus fitting that the annual food festival is one of the most global, appetizing events in the school life. And this year, it happened with a bang – literally. Fired up by the fantastic song and dance performances from the July Happy Hour, the School organized a two-in-one, food–cum-dance festival which lived up to its hype: the dishes were mouth-watering and the performances thoroughly eye-The preparations had started full two days back. Each team was engrossed in not only making the food but also renting or buying various artifacts representative of their countries. On Nov 4^th, Lincoln Hall bore the colorful festive look as the students donned with their traditional dresses ran around from early afternoon to set up and decorate their stalls. While some could be seen barbecuing on the roof top at the last minute, others chose to brew their coffee in the hall and mix up their noodles and rice. The teams were generally divided along regional lines such as African, European, and East/Central/South Asian, but included representation from other countries as well to give each stall a truly multi-cultural look. Coupled with the excitement of luring in spectators, the venue felt more of a compact food-street with people moving from one stall to another tasting the delectable food, learning about the ingredients, admiring the cultural artifacts, taking pictures, and generally having a lot of fun. For some of us it was the first time tasting some unpronounceable but nonetheless delicious delicacies!

The gastronomic tour lasted for more than an hour during which we all have had our fill but thirsted for more. Some of the students were conspicuously absent from the food orgy – they were in the neighboring hall preparing for their song and dance routine for another awesome event. Starting off with solo performances on well known songs, the evening rolled out to include sweet and soulful songs to thunderous cross-dressing dance performances that had the crowd clapping and laughing on every move. We never realized that KDI School students are such multi-talented! Speaking of which, it would be remiss not to mention Dean Nam’s tuneful Arirang. But the best performance that night was the one by Korean students who put on an excellent show that had our feet tapping with their K-pop dance.

Prizes were interspersed between the events. The Korean team won the best performing award as predicted and the African cooking team (named Hakuna Matata, no less!) was voted the best for their culinary and cultural presentation. Leaving no participants high and dry, the festival had everyone walk away with generous goodies. But more than the material gifts, the evening was about relishing the multi-cultural harmony through shared food and fun: a break from the stressful curriculum, a welcome reminder of our happy times in the KDI School, and an acknowledgement that though we may look and speak differently, nothing binds us together more as humans than eating in together. In the enclosed space of Lincoln Hall, it was a happy realization worth a second helping.