Lynbrook South Middle School seventh-graders enrolled in Roxanne Migliacci and Jeanette Roch’s “Around the World” classes experienced a world of cultures right in their own backyard during their first International Food Festival on May 24. The new class elective follows students enrolled in the fall Public Speaking class and puts their presentation skills to the test in the spring through researching foreign countries and presenting on what they learned. 

Students studied a specific country and explored what it would be like to visit as an American, as well as what it would be like for foreigners to come to the United States. They shared their research with their classes as they tried to convince their peers to visit their country of study. As a culmination to their unit, the classes joined together for their first International Food Festival in school where they brought in a dish from the country that they researched. These included Icelandic brownies from Iceland, samoas from India, lavash (a traditional flatbread) from Armenia, mandazi from Rwanda, mini pancakes from the United Arab Emirates, chicken and rice from Somalia, ginger-wasabi brown rice from Japan and many more. 

Each student placed a piece of paper with their country and the ingredients of their food by their dish as their peers walked around and had a taste. As they tried the different foods, the students wrote down their top 15 favorites. The festival was a team effort among teachers and staff members to make it a success. 

“I enjoyed making the food even though it took a while. It ended up being delicious,” said seventh-grader Hannah Seideman. “I also enjoyed tasting foods from the different countries that I didn’t think were from those places.”