Recently, GAIFF, hosted by a hard-working team of many GA students and faculty, brought back a pre-Covid opportunity to share the GA community culture through food.
On April 24, 2023, the Upper School affinity groups, Feminist Forum (FemFo), and Students United in Multicultural Awareness (SUMA) club brought back the Germantown Academy International Food Festival, a popular pre-Covid Upper School-wide event. The Food Festival, abbreviated as GAIFF, is an event where both students and teachers bring in food that belongs to any culture to share with the Upper School.
Although they had an initial hiccup in reaching the goal of at least 150 students bringing in dishes, the number of participants doubled overnight, and the event was a huge success. The event took place in the Field House; it was filled with students and teachers eagerly sampling many of the different dishes for the entire lunch and Flex period.
Some highlights of the event included Adhi Gadre ’23 and his papri chaat, a traditional Indian fast-food dish. The dish was a hit amongst many students who witnessed Gadre preparing the papri chaat live so that each bite was crunchy and fresh.
Another highlight of the event was Mr. Rich Schellhas, Head of School, with his bratwurst, a spicy pork sausage that is commonly eaten as street food in Germany. A crowd could be seen gathered around his station at all times.
Mr. Benjamin Tinsley, Upper School French teacher, brought plantains that were also delicious and were a favorite for Ms. Alicia Evans, Upper School English teacher and faculty advisor for Mi Gente.
I personally loved having the opportunity to try diverse foods from all over the world—there were just so many different dishes that I had never seen or tasted before, and I really enjoyed exploring other cultures. The Food Festival is also just a great way for people to share their culture through food. There are not many opportunities to bring in cultural dishes and share them with our community, so this festival was a fantastic way for people to do that. It was also great to see how much students enjoyed trying the different foods: a majority of the food was completely gone at the end of the festival.
On a personal note, as someone who brought in a dish and had the joy of seeing it all consumed, it was super fun to interact with the community and serve them traditional food from my culture. I loved seeing the way people’s faces lit up as they tried my food, and I’ve even been asked to bring in some more for people to eat.
The event was overall a huge success, but there can always be improvements to think about for next year’s festival. I found that many people did not have access to plates or utensils to eat their food with, and having more of them definitely could have improved the overall experience.
Secondly, the addition of more warming trays would have improved the quality of the food, since many dishes need to be warm to be enjoyed to their fullest extent. Lastly, the ticket system was unused by the majority of students as there was not much enforcement. Nevertheless, it all worked out well in the end because everyone who wanted food got it. Ms. Evans even hinted at a possible menu system for the following year.
Looking back on the festival, Ms. Evans expressed her gratitude for the many people that helped plan, organize, and run the event such as the affinity group leaders, Ms. Lloyd, Mr. Ferrier, Mr. Thomas, and the Modern Language Department.
“I am so thankful to the whole GA community who helped. So many random students showed up to organize and help clean up. It was just so sweet to see,” Ms. Evans said. “I also would like to send a thank you to all those secret cooks who spent their Sunday evenings making sure GAIFF really became a thing.”
GAIFF was a tremendous success, and, looking ahead to next year, I already have an idea of what I want to bring in. I’m already excited to see how the festival will grow and expand in the coming years.