Students crowded the Plaza of the Americas for a taste of culture at the Asian Food Festival on Monday.
Students who served samples behind tables with flowers and cultural artifacts wore traditional garb, including Chinese silk cheongsam dresses, Thai dresses and colored, translucent Filipino barong blouses.
Each cultural organization had its own ethnic variation of rice noodle dishes, barbecues, chicken and desserts.
Anthony Espino, a UF junior, said the festival shows those who are not of Asian descent the different facets of Asian culture.
“Spices and styles of cooking food vary among Asian cultures,” he said. “It’s such a diverse continent, and spreading awareness of new and different cultures is a beautiful thing.”
About 800 food tasters were given three red tickets to redeem at the organization’s table of their choice. One white ticket was given so tasters could vote on who should win best overall favorite dish.
This is the first year the festival was held on the Plaza of the Americas.
“We usually have it in a venue outside of campus,” said Karen Vinluan, the co-director of the festival. “It’s more open and convenient in the plaza. The entire campus can experience different cultures of Asia through food.”
Phuong Nguyen, a UF biology major, showed up 45 minutes before food was served in order to beat the crowd and get a sneak peak at the menu.
“I really don’t know a lot of the stuff on the menu,” she said, “but I usually eat Subway every day. This is a huge step up from what I usually eat.”
Each participating organization offered about three different types of ethnic food to sample. This is the first year they were required to have their food catered by local restaurants.
All the organizations ran out of food within an hour.
The Asian Food Festival is one of the events organized for Asian Kaleidoscope Month, a monthlong celebration of Asian-American culture.
