Asian Flavour Street: a Taste of Culture

On April 13^th 2017, the Asian Flavour Street was unveiled on the main avenue of the North Campus. Floods of people gathered there and immersed themselves in the culture of Asian countries.

At 2:30 in the afternoon, the delicious aroma of various specialties started to fill the air. Long queues of students stood in front of the stalls of different countries to taste the unique flavour of the specialties. Specialties like Arabian Barbecue, glutinous rice with mango and coconut milk from Thailand, and Korean Topokki (a kind of popular Korean food made from long, white, cylinder-shaped rice cakes) were demonstrated on the main avenue to attract people. We tasted the Vietnam Spring Roll, which is a kind of cuisine made of meat, vegetables and the wrapper. The meat and vegetables are rolled in a rice paper or wheat flour wrapper and deep-fried to golden brown deliciousness. A student we interviewed told us that she liked the Arabian Barbecue the most, which appealed to a lot of students.

Glutinous Rice with Mango and Coconut Milk

Apart from the delicious specialties, the students dressed in traditional costumes of the ethnic groups they were representing, and their performances also caught people’s attention. The students representing Japan wore the kimono (a traditional Japanese garment), while students representing Thailand wore the Pha Sin (the traditional costume of Thailand) to perform the unique Thai dance. Josie, a student majoring in German, told us that she was totally attracted by the various performances. She thought they gave us an opportunity to promote our understanding of Asian countries, and she also expressed her gratitude for the efforts of the performers.

Traditional Indonesian Dance

Students Dressed in Traditional Thailand Costumes

“We’ve made every endeavor to prepare for today’s Asian Flavour Street”, said Avaning, a student majoring in Bahasa Melayu. “We asked our Malaysian teacher and her friend to teach us how to make traditional Malaysian cuisine. In the meantime, we prepared the costumes and practiced Malaysian songs over and over again.” Avaning also said that they learned a lot through the whole process and that they had a better understanding of “no sweet without sweat”.

This year’s Asian Flavour Street is also attractive because of the games involved in it. If students purchase something from a stall or play the games offered by the stall, they can get a special seal (a kind of stamp that proved students’ participation in the activities) on a paper. Once they have collected 11 seals, they can have a chance to draw for prizes. “The games arouse students’ interest and more foreign friends participated in the activity this year”, said one of the activity’s organizers from the Faculty of Asian Languages and Cultures. “We made out a plan of Asian Flavour Street during last year’s winter holiday and started to arrange for this in early March. After a long time of preparation, we are so glad to have fruitful achievements today.”

Brief introduction of Asian Flavour Street: it is annually held by the Faculty of Asian Languages and Cultures. Every year, students at GDUFS enjoy this activity from which they learn more about Asian cultures. There are 11 stalls set up by ten different majors’ students this year. And the best stall this year was the Indonesian stall, which was selected according to its popularity, decoration and sanitary conditions.