Experiencing Culture: A Plateful of Culture — ISLGP Brings New Experiences to Students One Plate at a Time
by Marissa Gaeta
This series features reviews of various cultural events — plays, art galleries, poetry readings, etc. — and interviews with people of interest.
Culture is an important part of understanding one another. We learn amazing things when we open ourselves up to a diverse range of experiences. This could be traveling to new places, learning a new language, or even watching different movies and TV shows, to name just a few possibilities. While these are good ways to experience different cultures, they aren’t always easy to do when going to college or working. Traveling can cost a lot of money, learning a language take a lot of time and effort that one may not have, and watching different movies and TV shows still might not provide one with the most accurate portrayals. So how do we experience culture in an accurate, authentic way that doesn’t dig into our pockets or take up a lot of time? Well, look no further than York College’s Intercultural Student Life and Global Programming — ISLGP!
Earlier this month, ISLGP and the German Club sponsored an Oktoberfest dinner held at Johnson Dining Hall. At the dinner, they served many different German foods. For the main course they served four different kinds of sausages at the sausage bar as well as some wiener schnitzel. Sides ranged from warm potato salad to beer-soaked carrots — and, of course, there was sauerkraut. They didn’t forget about dessert, offering students a chocolate paradise of German chocolate cake and Black Forest cake. As students enjoyed the wonderful food and diversified their own palates in the process, German music could be heard through the dining hall.
During the Oktoberfest event, assistant director Ines Ramirez was interviewed about the planning process and how ISLGP conveys culture to the students through food. She explained that the organization’s main goal is to “bring culture through food” so that students can experience culture firsthand. It allows students to connect with flavor that they may not be able to experience in their daily lives. One remembers the aromas, the textures, the displays, the tastes. Every culture presented is unique and indeed a reflection of students’ interests— ISLGP works with student-run organizations in order to get ideas on what exactly to showcase. Then they work with the dining services to create a menu. While ISLGP can’t always feature every meal, they try their best to incorporate as many meals as they can to give students the best cultural experience possible.
One misconception about events like these are that if you don’t have a meal plan, you can’t participate — which Ms. Ramirez says isn’t true. ISLGP wants everyone to experience different cultures whether they have meal plans or not. For those that don’t, or aren’t able to pay to get in, ISLGP happily pays for them so that they can enjoy the opportunity as well. Students can do this by contacting ISLGP and saying they would like to attend the event. For Oktoberfest, a number of students’ meals were fully covered.
Just last Wednesday, October 17th, Johnson Dining Hall also offered a Home Harvest Fest dinner at Johnson Hall. There they offered choices such as pot roast, St. Louise BBQ, meatball bombers, and apple cider — all reminiscent of autumn, the season that’s upon us. Naturally, this event gave students a little taste of home as they continued to work towards their degrees.
It’s an entire year of showcasing cuisine from around the world. Next month in November there’ll be a Hawaiian dinner on West Campus. In the spring you can enjoy soul food during Black History Month, a Mardi Gras feast, an Easter dinner, and more. Though ISLGP has many fun events planned already, they are always looking for new suggestions. Feel free to email them at ISLGP@ycp.edu.
So come and experience a bounty of food — and culture — through ISLGP!
Marissa Gaeta is a senior majoring in Biology and minoring in Professional Writing. She considers herself from Philadelphia, Lancaster, and York, PA. Growing up, Marissa always had a wide range of interests in science related-topics as well as the arts, even being published in her high school’s poetry book. She loves movies, anime, good jokes and puns, and having fun with her family and friends (while kicking their butts at Yahtzee). This is her first semester of working on The York Review.
