Participants of RSM’s International Full-time MBA programme, as well as alumni, corporate guests, staff, family and friends of the students attended the food festival, which took place at Maria’s Cantina on RSM’s campus on 1 May 2015. Many of RSM’s MBA students consider the International Food Festival one of the social highlights of their international MBA experience on campus.
“It was amazing to see so many different cuisines from around the world,” said MBA student Alla Alimova from RSM’s MBA Class of 2016. “I tried many dishes: Indian food, a Peruvian dessert, Japanese sushi, a Taiwanese dessert, South African food, and American s’mores. I can’t choose which one I liked best, because I’m biased to mine,” she laughs, adding that her favourite moments included seeing the faces of her classmates when tried the vodka with pork fat.
For the International Food Festival, MBA students prepared dishes from 20 countries: Kazakhstan, Taiwan, USA, Mexico, Germany, Chile, Japan, Indonesia, Brazil, South Korea, Peru, Ukraine, Colombia, Nigeria, Bolivia, Georgia, Russia, South Africa, India, and China. All food festival attendees received a voting card and chose their favourite dish. The most popular country was India, followed by Peru and South Africa.
Taiwanese MBA student Cierra Tsui’s favourite was the Russian dish. “To keep warm in Russia, you have to eat dark bread, pork fat, and sour cucumber after a vodka shot. The taste is hard to describe, so many layers of flavour at once!” Tsui said she enjoyed discovering her classmates’ cultures through the food, costumes and dancing, and felt a true sense of connectedness. “The festival was all about sharing. Everyone prepared the foods and shared their culture. We played, danced and ate. Together.”
Proceeds from the event’s entrance fee of €5, food and raffle tickets, which added up to €1,113, will go to The Girl Effect Project, a global movement created by the Nike Foundation in 2008 to unleash the potential of 250 million adolescent girls living in poverty.