iFood: Students Present International Flavors


This year, the clubs that participated in the iFood Bazaar were: Andover Chinese Students Association, Southeast Asian Club, African Student Union, Alianza Latina, Andover Japanese Connection, Chinese Culture Club, and Andover Korean Society.

Instead of the usual fare served at Paresky Commons, some students opted to dine on soba noodles from Japan, crispy lumpia from the Philippines, tender bulgogi from Korea, and more international delicacies in George Washington Hall this past Saturday evening. They gathered next to rows of food booths as other students hurried in with trays of food to keep up with the demand.

iFood was the the food portion of Andover’s annual iFest, hosted by Andover’s iClub. During the annual student-organized event that featured delicacies from around the globe, numerous clubs came together to showcase the different cultures of Andover’s diverse student body.

Attendee Dakota Chang ’23 said, “You see a lot of different cultures here, and you see the food around the world—[they may] smell very different, taste very different, and look very different—but they all taste really good in their own way.”

Many items sold out within the first hour, including shaved ice with syrup, sushi, and soba noodles. George Washington Hall was filled with attendees hanging out and eating as the smell of cooking filled the air.

Attendee Angela Chen ’23 said, “I think [Paresky] should have those foods every single day because [they’re] so good and I really love [them]. They should definitely do this more often.”

The Andover Chinese Students Association (ACSA) prepared wontons and pork dumplings, as well as stir-fried tomato and eggs, a popular and easy-to-prepare Chinese dish often served in student cafeterias in China.

ACSA Co-Head Maxwell Bao ’20 said, “We chose [wontons and dumplings] because first, everyone loves dumplings. Second, it is a very traditional dish. We also cooked tomato and egg stir fry, which is another authentic Chinese dish that most people who aren’t Chinese wouldn’t know about.”

The Southeast Asian Club (SEA) made lumpia, a Filipino spring roll fried and filled with pork, beef, onion, soy sauce, and carrots. The skin was made out of a crispy crepe pastry.

“[Lumpia are] kind of like dumplings or spring rolls… The presidents of our clubs are both Thai, so we usually do Thai food. So I think [we’re] trying to branch out and do something different,” said Elizabeth Chou ’22, a member of SEA.

According to Piper Drew ’20, Co-President of iClub, iFood facilitated learning and experiencing other people’s cultures through eating food. It also allowed club members to experience a culture through cooking its food.

“I think [iFood is] super important to have because part of iFest is learning about different cultures around the world, and I think that this is a way to experience a culture in a different form. Wherein the club meetings we [talk] about different aspects of culture, this is where [we] can actually experience the different cultures from all over,” said Drew.