Taste of Nations

The Dickinson State University Business Club held a Taste of Nations fundraising event tonight: a buffet of ethnic foods from several of the countries represented by our many, many international students on campus. We enjoy a good buffet and think it's a terrific opportunity for our kids to try food, hear entertainment, and meet people from Mongolia, China, Russia, Nepal, and numerous other countries to which they might not ever travel--so we were there shortly after the doors opened!

The ballroom in the Student Center on campus was packed with people there to eat. We went through a buffet loaded with lots of food served by international students who dished up heaping portions regardless of how much room was available on our plates! As we sat and ate (and, referring to a menu on the table, tried to figure out what each food item was), we were "entertained" by various students' performances. Some were quite good, but the opening act was a Mongolian student whose "talent" was beatboxing and whose self-confidence far exceeded his artistry (and certainly far exceeded his humility). The second act was an American student who had written a "song" that he "sang" while accompanying himself on the guitar. It was completely unintelligible, so I couldn't tell ya what it was about, but the experience itself exemplified the concept of infinity (and not in a good way). Far better talent (yes, legitimate talent this time) followed with music and dancing by students with names such as Xu Lu, Amour, Zara, Shiny, and Yang Ning.

The food laid out included German sausage and sauerkraut, Mongolian buuz and tomato salad, Nepalese chicken curry, South American lamb stew, Russian eggplant and a vegetable pie, and Chinese pork stew and Kung Pao chicken, among other dishes. The dessert, however, was decidedly uninternational: generic vanilla ice cream with sundae toppings. Yawn. We certainly did not leave hungry, though, and we were happy to have this opportunity to "globalize" our daughters' cultural experiences without having to leave southwestern North Dakota!