Food festival highlights many cultures on campus

 The music was booming, food was consumed and people were socializing.
 Students from all walks of life gathered together to participate in the International Food Festival/ Display of Flags at Prairie View A&M University Nov. 15 in the Memorial Student Center lobby.
 Flags from every country currently represented at Prairie View were placed around the lobby and samples of food from different countries were provided by students, staff and faculty.
 Music from a variety of cultures was played throughout the night. The Trinidad based Live Steel Drum Band performed while members from the African Student Association performed native African dances.
 Kemar Hibbert, president of the International Student Organization, believes the festival helped bring students with diverse backgrounds together.
 “This is a big expression of art and music and it brings awareness to all the different cultures that are at the Hill. It is good to have this every year to remind us why our diversity makes us special,” said Hibbert.
 The festival allowed students to try cuisines from foreign places they never visited and experience music they never heard.
Senior psychology major Stephanie Gary said, “I think it is important to get introduced to other parts of the world. You get to taste their food, hear their music, and experience the life, it is like you are taking a trip around the world.”
Different cultural organizations like International Student Organization, League of United Latin American Citizens, African Student Association, Sigma Lambda Beta, Inc. and Sigma Lambda Gamma PV Colony helped bring the festival to fruition.
The organizations showcased food and music from countries in the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
“ASA came, showed our food, our love, and our dancing. We wanted to represent Nigeria and represent it well,” said Sarah Ebedan a junior criminal justice major and member of ASA.
Lola Lawal, a junior criminal justice major, hopes the festival will bring more prospective students with different backgrounds to Prairie View.
“I feel that this helped a lot of people see that it is not just only black people that go here. That should make a lot of students that are ethnically different want to come here,” said Lawal.
Hibbert felt the festival was a success in getting its main mission understood.
“People always wonder what makes Prairie view special; black students, Asian students, white students and Hispanic students coming together to be educated is what makes Prairie View special,” he said.