Food blurs international boundaries

Delicious Fare

The protest by Kashmiri students for not being allowed to put their food stall at the International Food Festival in Jawaharlal Nehru University did not mar the spirit of foreign participants. Breaking international barriers, students from different nations organised a food festival that received a good response at the university.

Liyue Song, pursuing Korean Studies in JNU, enthusiastically served authentic Chinese cuisine. “Soups of Seauut is our specialty. The soup is cooked with egg, tomato and other vegetables. We also have Coca Cola Chicken. The boiled chicken is fried with the carbonated drink along with the spices,” says Song, as she mentions about Egg Meat Tomato and Colourful Potato with Pepper which were equally in great demand.

Believing that JNU is the place for international students, Phonethary Thavonsoul from Laos, says, “ No place could have been better than JNU to represent our country. Students have no idea where Laos is situated, so we are serving our traditional cuisine.” The most sought after dish at their stall was chicken salad, an amalgamation of chicken pieces, mint, coriander, lemon, fish sauce and spices. The salad was served with spicy papaya salad, with a dash of garlic and rice.

The team comprising seven people worked on the preparation of the festival for two days. “Our traditional food is spicy. Vegetables are an essential part in all our dishes even if it is non-vegetarian,” says Thavonsoul.

At the Japanese stall Yoko, a student of International Relations at JNU, was busy mixing rice flour for Anmitsu, a dish made from rice flour, pineapple and strawberry. “We are proud of our Japanese food and want others should also taste the authentic food of our country,” said Yoku. The stall also had Tempura, a dish of fried veggies and Yakitori which is like barbeque chicken.

Meanwhile, Zeinad, pursuing Masters in linguistics, was handling the rush at the Syrian food stall. The stall had everything from Shawarma to Baba Ghanoush, hummus and pita bread.
Representing the Netherlands, Ashwani Prabha Karan, student of School of Languages was busy making pancakes. There were only two items in their stall – Dutch pancakes (Panenkkoel) and Pufferties, small cup cakes which are made at the birth of a baby in The
Netherlands.

Their teacher guided them about the Dutch cooking style. Though she was not present, the team of five students enthusiastically served the freshly cooked pancakes and cupcakes. “Our professor has promised that through the collected money we will visit the Dutch colonies,” says Prabha Karan.

Even a group of Indian students, running classes for children of construction workers within the university campus, had their stall serving state-specific dishes like Sarson ka Saag, Litti Chokha, idli, dhokla, kheer, laddoo and muffins.