The International Student Organization held its 13th annual International Peace Dinner Wednesday, Oct. 28, bringing students and the Auburn community together for a night of cultural harmony.
"I think the event has been a huge success," said International Student Organization president Ziyun Chen. "We are building the bridges between the international and domestic communities, and it also gives people a chance to try different foods and make friends."
The event began at 6 p.m. in the Student Center ballroom and within the first hour more than 1,050 people attended.
Fifteen students from the International Student Organization volunteered to help manage the event, as well as about eight volunteer servers from each country providing food.
Attendants could sample entrees from Iran, Bangladesh, Turkey, China, Africa, India, Nepal, Latin America and Korea, as well as a variety of desserts. Some of the dishes served were fried plantains from Africa, mutton curry with chili from Bangladesh, suyuk from Korea, and adas polo from Iran.
"Everyone seems to really like the mutton curry with chili," said Shatila Sarwar, a first year chemical engineering P.h.D student and volunteer server. "We had to cook about 100 pounds of lamb."
Sophomore in human development and family studies Madison Atwater attended the event last year, but believes this year it was a bigger success.
"There is definitely a lot more people here," Atwater said. "There is less mingling, but it's more organized, and I just love being able to try all the delicious food."
Executive vice president of publicity for the International Student Organization Yatish Kaveti said some improvements were made this year to the management plan.
"I wanted to make sure we had way more publicity this year," Kaveti said. "And added to the success is also a result of the cooperation of my teammates and the reputation of the event. The volunteers also did a wonderful job."
M.D. Shakirahmed heard of the event through his wife who is a student at Auburn University and decided to bring his whole family.
"It gives everyone the opportunity to try foods they would not normally be able to," Shakirahmed said. "It brings a sense of brotherhood to all of the different countries as well as the United States."
The Black Student Union also provided 12 to 15 volunteers to help manage the event. Black Student Union president Erica Rutledge said the event is important to both her organization as well as the International Student Organization because they share a common goal.
"We always support ISO because both of our organizations try to bring people together," Rutledge said. "We want people to learn to respect each other in our different cultures."
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