KDI School hosted the 2016 International Food Festival on Friday, October 28, 2016. The Festival gave the KDI School community an opportunity to enjoy a diverse range of foods from all over the world in order to promote unity and a more colorful culture. A dozen teams featuring students from 36 countries served up more than 57 dishes and beverages to compete against one another in a showdown to find the no. 1 team for national dishes.

The event kicked off at 3.00pm and remained buzzing until 5.00pm. All guests were free to taste whichever dish they wanted to. After sampling all the food, they had to pick one team for the best taste and another for the best decoration. The winner for each category was selected based on popular vote.

As part of a collaborative effort between Asian teams, Asia’s Touch and Asia’s Taste prepared ten exotic and aromatic dishes. Students from Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Korea and Sri Lanka cooked street food like Tteokbokki, Onde-onde, Spring rolls, Martabak telur, and Satay. Also included on the menu were Shrimp pad thai, Chicken green curry, Bath moju, Fried rice, and Red bean soup. Yanuar IMBI (2015 MPP, Indonesia), representative from the Asia’s Taste Team, said she thoroughly enjoyed the Festival. To her, it was not only a place to eat several delicious dishes from many countries but also a chance to see some colorful and traditional dresses as well as traditional performances. “I think only in KDI School I can find this kind of opportunity,” Yanuar said.

The first performance was a flash mob from the Asian Team with the lines dance, Poco-Poco – a dance popular throughout Indonesia. The lyrics described a man’s admiration for a beautiful woman making her feel shy and embarrassed. These feeling were reflected into the dance movements. But at the same time, the dance also showed farming activities of the people in Sulawesi in Indonesia such as picking cloves, planting the paddy, hoeing the fields, and peeling coconut fibers.

Besides Indonesia, there were other performances from other countries. Gulkaiyr EMIIR-RAADIK KYZY (2016 MPM, Kyrgyzstan) said that there were four performances including traditional dances from Central Asia – Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. They wore traditional clothes called Kalpak, Chapan, Kiyikcha, and Tyubeteika. “By performing the dance, we were able to show our culture in a beautiful and memorable way,” said Gulkaiyr

Preparing the food, however, was no easy task. Gulkaiyr told that they prepared the horse meat as one of the menu but they had to buy the ingredients in Seoul and ordered them from a central Asian restaurant. Gulkaiyr and her friends at the Crazy Tasty Team cooked Pilaf, Deruny, Meat Pie, Kattana, Chack-Chak, and Pancakes. Their dishes were from Uzbekistan, Kyrgiztan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan and Armenia. “Our team was composed of Post-Soviet countries so our team was based on the culture of central Asia mixed with Slavic nations,” said Gulkaiyr. The Crazy Tasty Team won the Best Chef Award.

The African Mouthwatering Cuisine Team produced dishes like Nyama Chorma Chaptati, Banku and Okro Soup, Africa Red drink, Eru and Gari, and a traditional Cameroonian mixed chicken dish.

The team from Latin America, Finger Avengers, prepared Korean, Mexican and Nicaraguan food. They came with Tacos, Quesadilla, Aroos conleche, and Buritoos. “We also prepared Bunuelo, a sweet dish from Nicaragua, but we had difficulties to find yucca. So we bought it in Itaewon, Seoul,” said Rony RODRIGUEZ RAMIREZ (2016 MDP, Nicaragua). Meanwhile another Latin American team, The Leftovers, in partnership with Italy, prepared Empadas, Bagna Cauda, Pizza, and Quiche.

Meanwhile, Falestin NOUBANI (2016 MPP, Palestine) said that it was difficult to manage time between members when preparing the food. Their team consisted of members from 13 countries. On the day, they provided Middle Eastern, Indian, Bangladeshi, and Ghanaian food. “Other difficulties were limited space, budget and trying to make enough food for everyone and also different taste,” said Falastin. Falastin and her team, The 5 Star Chefs, won the Best Decoration Award.

Associate Dean Jaeun SHIN explained that the 2016 IFF was unique compared to previous events. For the first time ever, it was held outdoors and it invited the local community outside of KDI School. Along with KDI School students, KDI and KDIS staff, children from Pruni Kindergarten could taste all the IFF had to offer. In particular, for the children, they could try the food and practice their English as well. They asked the name of the food and which country it came from and then, they wrote it in a piece of paper. “It creates more opportunities to interact with the local community and show the value of School,” Associate Dean SHIN said. Based on the success of this year’s event, KDI School intends to keep the IFF as a community event next year.

By Arifenie FITRI NUR [2016 MPP, Indonesia]