Food Fest is fun but also hard work

Students love Food Fest but say it is work to put it on

BY CRYSTAL TANIA

While the annual Food Fest on the BYU–Hawaii campus is a major event students and the community look forward to because it unites people from diverse countries and cultures through food, the students in the culture clubs who make the food said it can be challenging and tiring to prepare and serve the food while working and going to school.

A group of freshman girls who went to Food Fest on Saturday, Nov. 6, for the first time said they really enjoyed the diversity, ambiance, and especially the food. In total, there were 23 clubs who participated such as Fiji, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Thailand, Vietnam, and more.

But Natasya Haridas, a senior from Singapore majoring in business marketing, said it was difficult for her to manage the stress of midterms and all the Food Fest preparations.

“I think it was very tiring. It was a time in a semester that was really hard. ... When I get extra stress and tired from it, I still have Food Fest at the end of the week.”

She said her club, the Singapore Malaysia Club, was so busy at Food Fest and even sold out of its food, she didn't get to try any other clubs’ food.

“The preparation for Food Fest also stressed me because we had a limited time to prepare the food and limited people in the kitchen. Since I am part of a smaller club of 40 people, it was hard to find people who are willing to volunteer for the booth.”

Haridas added she didn't think the timing of Food Fest was good because it was around the same time as midterms. “We didn’t have a very good schedule. Put the Food Fest on a better week next year,” she suggested, like the second week of November instead of the first week.

Having supervised and helped with the process of Food Fest, Malia Ah Mu, a senior from Utah majoring in elementary education, shared that she enjoyed Food Fest even though the preparation was rather hectic and complicated.

“Some of the clubs weren’t prepared even as we neared the day of Food Fest. For example the Kiribati Club. They bought bread fruit and a big fish from a sailor who sailed all the way from Kiribati. But instead of putting the fish in the freezer at the designated kitchen, they decided to cut the fish up and put it in Ziploc bags. We couldn’t accept that because it didn’t adhere to the health protocols. And it all happened just two days before the Food Fest.”

Luckily, they found a substitute for the fish the following day, according to Ah Mu. The Student Leadership team also faced difficulty with the ticket process, which Ah Mu felt was because the information was not portrayed clearly.

“Some students bought one ticket thinking they could get any food with it, when they actually had to buy as much as the price of each food they wanted to buy,” added Ah Mu, who wished Food Fest next year could improve in communications and cooperation.

Siripich Siriek, a junior from Thailand majoring in accounting, expressed a similar feeling with Haridas.

The Thailand Club sold chicken wings with various sauces, Siriek said they sold out in less than two hours. She shared that club members willing to participate had to take an exam revolving the food protocols in order to be able to handle the food, and only three students from her club passed.

“The preparation for our club wasn’t too bad because we bought frozen and pre-made food. However, I was the only one cooking in the kitchen. I had no idea what was going on out there because it was very hard for me to communicate with my friends in the booth.”

With the big responsibility she had, Siriek said she couldn’t enjoy other booths until towards the end by the time most clubs had already sold out.

“The rules were also confusing, the club supervisors should have been clearer and given more instructions during the preparation. Hopefully next year, there will be better cooperation between us and the Student Leadership team,” added Siriek.