Ethnic delicacies such as British rice pudding highlighted the foods presented by eighth-grade students at Westfield Middle School South Friday morning. (Photo by Robby Veronesi)
WESTFIELD – Gelato from Italy. Sausage from Poland. Rice pudding from the United Kingdom. Crepes from France. Pastelillos from Puerto Rico.
This was just a sampling of the diverse foods, and culture, exhibited by eighth-graders at Westfield South Middle School’s International Food Fair Friday morning.
As part of an assignment made by Social Studies Teacher Jeff Piper, students were required to select a country and bring in a traditional dish to share with the rest of the class.
Students selected and represented multiple countries, including Italy, Poland, Austria, Brazil and France, pictured. (Photo by Robby Veronesi)
“We do World History in eighth grade, so this is the end of the year (assignment) where they have to make a recipe from around the world and bring it in,” said Piper. “Most of them go with their ethnic background. Some get one of their family recipes. Some will pick out of a cookbook last minute.”
This cultural assignment has been a big hit with the students over the years, according to Piper.
“Anytime there is food, they love it,” said Piper. “The other (class) went Wednesday, so they got a chance to see it and I think they got excited after.”
“This is usually their favorite project of the year (and) it has been like that for all the previous years,” he said. Students receive grades on their decorations, which need to be hand-drawn, as well as characteristics including a displayed recipe and having properly proportioned samples for people to try.
As fun a job as it was for Piper to sample all the foods, picking a favorite proved to be a bit more difficult.
“There’s a lot of good stuff. We had a lot of drinks today, which was kind of cool,” said Piper. “The most interesting one was a Saudi Arabian drink. I had never had that ever before, so that was cool. A lot of the Russian and Ukrainian food is really good. They make a lot of good desserts.”
