More than ever before, you could taste the food of 24 nations at International Food Day. The foreign student community of the University of Debrecen organized the gastro festival for the 16th time, which also serves a charitable purpose this year, writes unideb.hu.
The University of Debrecen is the most popular domestic higher education institution among foreign students with an international community of more than seven thousand people from around 130 countries. International Food Day is the largest and most popular event of the International Student Union (ISU), the student sub-government of the University of Debrecen Student Self-Government that brings together foreign students, where nations present their traditional foods every year in the square in front of the University of Debrecen. At the gastro festival, visitors can taste the flavors and food specialties of Africa, Asia and overseas nations.
– Food Day is one of the defining events of the University of Debrecen, during which we can taste a small piece of each nation. The foreign students of the University of Debrecen make up the largest international student community in Central Europe, their cohesion is exemplary, said Zoltán Szilvássy, rector of the University of Debrecen, in his opening speech.
László Mátyus, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, emphasized that International Food Day is the most important event for the university’s international audience, thanks to the perseverance of the foreign students, who kept the tradition year after year and made the event more and more colorful.
Co-founder Attila Jenei, director of the International Education Coordinating Center, recalled that the first Food Day was organized in 2005, which has gradually developed over the past years into a festival-like international event that moves large crowds, where borders disappear as a result of sharing a meal.
At this year’s Food Day, Algerian, Bangladeshi, Brazilian, Chinese, Egyptian, Ghanaian, Iraqi, Israeli, Jordanian, Kazakh, Kenyan, Kosovar, Lao/Thai, Moroccan, Mexican, Nigerian, Pakistani, Palestinian, Filipino, Sri Lankan, they could taste the traditional specialties of Uzbek and Vietnamese cuisine. The program was enriched by the concerts of foreign student bands.
The gastronomic event is also a charity event, the student community donates part of the amount collected from the tasting tickets to charity every year.
For several years now, ISU has been supporting the Leukemia Children’s Foundation, which this year would like to use the donation to build a ward with a filter equipped with a HEPA filter. The special patient room would support the care of severely myelosuppressed children, mainly acute myeloid leukemia. In addition, the foundation plans to purchase a PCR machine to assist the diagnostic work.
