Global Cuisine hopes to spark interest in campus diversity

Global Cuisine is an initiative to have themed food nights at Rathbone and U.C. Lower Court for differnt culturual foods. Ovie Ojeni, ’18, along with other staff members is spearheading the initiative. (Courtesy of Ovie Ojeni)

First-year student Ovie Ojeni was content with the offerings of his meal plan. However, longing for more diverse options, he requested a popular Nigerian dish be made. The dining hall chefs approved and Lehigh’s Global Cuisine program was born.

With the assistance of Lehigh staff members, Ojeni has found a way to not only add variety to food offerings on campus, but also to pique students’ interests in other cultures and create a more globalized campus.

Global Cuisine is a program sponsored by Lehigh Dining services that hosts cultural theme nights in both Lower Cort and Rathbone dining halls. This event serves popular dishes from a specific country, plays local music from the culture and displays the national flag, in addition to a small biography of the student hosting the event.

Students, faculty and staff that swipe into these dining halls on Global Cuisine nights are fully immersed in a new culture, with the goal of incorporating every possible aspect of the country culture into the meal.

“It’s exciting to know that the many diverse cultures at Lehigh are being celebrated in the dining halls via this very creative program,” said Bill Hunter, the director of international outreach. “Food is always a great introduction to one’s culture. It’s a conversation starter, opening the door for a greater understanding. I applaud (Ojeni), an enthusiastic first-year student, for taking the initiative.”

To encompass every sense with cultural diversity, this type of experience will be available to all students from any country. Students interested are encouraged to visit the Dining Services website to access the application form, which requires a name, country and date to interview.

“Having better food and a better scenery will make the experience feel more authentic to students,” Ojeni said. “Funding these enhancements to make this project more immersive is crucial if Lehigh wants to prove it is committed to having their students become global citizens. The next steps to take are to partner with Lehigh’s communications and admissions office to market how valuable this project can be use to pull in both international and diverse students. I know this project would supplement Lehigh’s student global learning initiative.”

A Guatemalan-inspired dinner will be hosted April 28 at Rathbone to celebrate South American flavors. There will be a special menu created by Lehigh students Cristina Fuertes, ’17, and Fernanda Monzon, ’18.

“I think it’s a great thing that this motion is being set in place in the dining halls, because it really forces the needed interactions between different people on campus, not to mention a biography gets featured,” said Hiyab Stefanos, ’16, a student senate representative.

This initiative corresponds to Lehigh’s efforts toward a more diverse, inclusive and open-minded student body. The representation of many countries through food, a huge aspect of culture, encourages Lehigh students and staff to dive into different perspectives, even if it is just over a meal with fellow peers and community members.