Every year Amherst hosts the City Streets Festival which features international cuisine from Greece, Japan, Cuba, Africa, Sri Lanka, Southwestern U.S, and more. For a little background, the festival was established on April 2013 as an opportunity for Amherst students to come together and celebrate our heritage and cultural food. Unfortunately because of the rainy weather, the event was not a fully outdoor event, or if you were waiting in the food truck lines you were under an umbrella keeping cover. Some of the lines were exceptionally long but besides that, there was a large variety of food offered during this festival, enough food for me to only have enough time to explore half of the selections.
Entering Valentine Dining Hall you are met with long lines going Lewis-Sebring Hall as well. The menu varies every year but this year Amherst sampled cuisine from Greece with Chicken Souvlaki, a popular Greek dish consisting of marinated chicken that is grilled and served in a pita with red onion, lettuce, and tomato. Moving on to Japan, I tried Yakisoba a traditional stir-fried noodle dish with soba-wheat noodles, napa cabbage, onions, carrots, and bean sprouts with a sweet and savory sauce. I continued moving down the line and tried the Cuban cuisine which was very tasteful and was delighted when I saw the Flan Cubano which is a Cuban baked custard with caramel sauce. The last thing I ate was the cuisine from the South Western U.S. which included Chimichangas, deep-fried burritos served with avocado sauce on the side and tamales of different flavors.
This event brought many students across the campus together, talking and sharing stories over food and also hiding from all the rain and muddy grass. I was impressed by the variety of foods. Amherst makes an effort for inclusivity to be a part of every event and I am a firm believer that inclusion is the best form of relationship building. Therefore, I am wondering what other parts of the country and communities within the United States can we include. Native Indigenous cuisine is underrepresented in the food world therefore perhaps next year we might see the inclusion of Indigenous communities around Massachusetts.