Ethnic Food Fair serves up culture on a platter

The United Presbyterian Church will provide good food, good fun and good fellowship at the tenth-annual Ethnic Food Fair  on Saturday.

The church, located three blocks South of Forest Quad, will open its doors from 5 to 7 p.m.

“The food fair reflects the makeup of this Church,” event co-chair Allen Pease said. “It gives people a chance to experience diversity in a pleasant atmosphere.”

All of the food at the fair is homemade by more than 20 members of the church, Pease said.

“But not baklava,” he said. “That’s too hard to make.”

Church members will be at each station to answer questions about the dishes, Pease said.

Vera Heitink, co-chair of the event, said she cooks the Indonesian food each year.
Because her food is always the first to sell out, she said her booth has been moved to the last one in the row.

“I make a special sauce,” she said. “They always come back for the sauce.”

Pease said the church has become more ethnically diverse over the last 30 years because of its welcoming atmosphere.

“We have people from most every continent,” said Alejandra Haddad, a member of the church who will contribute Colombian dishes.

The Ethnic Food Fair brings people of different ethnicities together to sit and talk with each other, Heitink said.

Tickets will be sold for the event at the church office and will cost $10 for adults and $5 for students and children six and older. Children five and under are free.

In addition to the food, the church will also sell cookbooks with recipes donated by members over the last 35 years, Pease said.

“There are over 800 recipes in the book,” he said. “But we aren’t serving 800 dishes this weekend.”

Money collected from the event will go to the International Christian Fellowship, Pease said. The money is spent on events and activities of the church itself as well as being donated to missions, such as an eye clinic in Honduras, that are sponsored by the church, he said.

Each year, between 200 and 300 people attend the event, which is about half church members and half community members, Pease said. Last year the church sold about 40 tickets to IU students, he added.

“We wish we had more students,” Haddad said. “We almost try to be a home away from home for the students.”

In order to get all of the food ready to serve the crowd, Heitink said she will begin preparing the food the day before.

“My house will smell from the bottom to upstairs,” she said. “There is a lot to do, but I’m excited.”