WITH VIDEO: Food-tasting held on campus as part of Hispanic Heritage Month

• Tweet
• 

Hispanic Food Taster from CMLifeVideo on Vimeo.

About 300 people were given a taste of Hispanic culture Wednesday as part of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The annual food-taster was held at the Bovee University Center Rotunda, with a higher attendance than last year’s 250 people.

“I think one way to learn about a different culture is through something we all share — food is a part of every culture,” said Keisha Janney, assistant director of Multicultural Academic Student Services. “Each culture has its own traditions. In many cultures, people bond over cooking and eating food.”

Mount Pleasant resident William Leksche and his family attended the food-taster along with other Hispanic Heritage Month events.

Leksche said his family also went to Edward James Olmos’ presentation.

His wife and daughter donned shirts that incorporated the red, green and white colors of the Mexican flag.

“We’d like to take her to Mexico,” Leksche said of his daughter. “She’s home-schooled and we’re teaching her Spanish. It’s a nice opportunity to be involved with her culture and it gives me a lot more reason to learn about different cultures.”

Some of the items on the menu included beef tostadas, vegan tostadas, cashew vinaigrette, Cuban sandwiches and tres leche.

“The tres leche was the business,” Grand Rapids sophomore Ryan Rooney said. “The food was delicious.”

During the event, a slide show with information about Hispanic culture was displayed. It flashed different flags from various Latin countries, fun facts and Hispanic proverbs in Spanish, with English translations.

Dance group Mestre Caboquinho was scheduled to perform Capoeira, a combination of martial arts and dance, but could not make it in time for the event. Janney apologized to the audience for the inconvenience.

An upcoming event for the month is Michael Reyes, who will use a spoken word performance to convey his view of Mexican identity on Oct. 7 in the Bovee University Center Auditorium.

Hispanic Heritage Month runs through Oct. 15.