MSSU to host ninth-annual World Music & Cuisine Festival

Joplin, Mo –The ninth-annual World Music and Cuisine Festival will take place from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Missouri Southern’s Young Gymnasium.

Students and community members will serve international dishes while a variety of musical groups perform. For $15 guests receive a wristband to access unlimited food samples while supplies last. Thirty countries are expected to represent their cuisine including offerings from local restaurants Thai Time, Magic Noodle, and Taste of Italy.

The MSSU Percussion Ensemble will open the festival, followed by the Mariachi Amistad band at 5:30 p.m. International students from countries such as Mexico, Japan, and India will also perform at 6:30 p.m.

“This event offers an opportunity to experience a great deal of cultural diversity. Attendees can meet people and sample foods from countries they’ve never dreamed of visiting,” said Aaron Carmichael, director of MSSU’s Intensive English Program and coordinator of the event. “It makes the world smaller in a way, but it also broadens our perspective on what’s out there beyond our own borders and culture.”

A collaboration of the Institute of International Studies and the MSSU student-led International Club, the proceeds of the festival will help fund the International Club.

“This is an opportunity for students to showcase their country and culture,” Carmichael said. “They can’t invite our entire campus and community into their homes back in Japan, Haiti, Mexico, or Nepal, but they can cook for us, and I think they feel a great deal of pride in that.”