Ayza Ali, at right, dishes out balls of gulab jamun, which she described as ‘kind of like a doughnut’ and served in syrup.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Wyoming Sem students serve foods from 37 countries
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Eshaal Ahmad, 15, hands out samosas, which are pastries from Pakistan, stuffed with a spicy potato filling, while Karman Kaur, 17, ladles out Indian-style buttered chicken.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Ifechi Ebi-Ekweozoh, Gabriella Adeghe and Andrew Brobbey had prepared foods from Nigeria and Ghana for the International Dinner.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Que Riggins prepared mac and cheese, collard greens, cornbread and banana pudding for his popular ‘soul food’ station at the International Dinner.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Wyoming Seminary Lower School students Roshaan Mallhi, Eesa Mohyuddin and Mustafa Hanif enjoyed taking part in the International Dinner.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Floyd Bussie, technical director for Wyoming Seminary’s next student play, shows off a plate laden with food from several countries. “I have three or four desserts here,” he said with a grin.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Let’s say you wanted to try pastitsio and ratatouille — the first is a Greek-style lasagna and the second is a French-style vegetable stew — but you also were in the mood for Indian-style buttered chicken, Nigerian jollof rice and maybe a sweet Soul Food dessert like banana pudding.
You could taste all that, and much more, at the International Dinner that Wyoming Seminary recently hosted for students, staff and parents.
“We have 74 dishes representing 37 countries,” said faculty member Nina Cinti, who organized the event with Jess Gensel and Brenda Pigou. “The only continent we don’t have is Antarctica.”
Wyoming Seminary’s diverse student body includes students who represent many cultures, including some who came from other countries to attend the school.
During the dinner, attended by a crowd that Head of Upper School Rachel Bartron estimated at 400, they dished out everything from gulab jamun, a doughnut-like snack from Pakistan, to angelonies, an anise cookie from Italy.
“I told everyone to give me just a very small sample,” Barton said, explaining her strategy for trying as many dishes as possible. “Our students are so proud.”
Indeed, students were eager to ladle food onto plates as people walked by, buffet style.
“If you visit Nigeria, you’d most likely have some of this,” 17-year-old Gabriella Adeghe said of the Jollof Rice. “Different tribes have different versions, and it’s very popular.”
As she used a pair of tongs to hand out samosas, 15-year-old Eshal Ahmad admitted she had cut down on the spiciness of the potato filling inside the pastry pockets in deference to American palates, which she has learned don’t have the “spice tolerance” she expects in Pakistan.
With food from Pakistan being served next to food from India, and food from Ghana next to food from Nigeria, it almost seemed as if a guest could walk around the world, going from one nearby country to another.
You could, for example, scoop up some chocolate mousse or choux a la creme cream puffs from France and then try some Kaiserschmarrn “scrambled pancakes” from a German/Austrian team … but alas, it seemed that a trio of young men from the Czech Republic had all too quickly run out of their Jahodove Knedliky, or fruit-filled dumplings.
The traditional dish uses strawberries, 19-year-old Matyas Tichy said, but he and Tadeas Bezdeck, 18, and Matyas Bartonek, 17, had also used plums and apricots in some of their dumplings.