BYU–Hawaii and the community of Laie enjoyed one of the university’s most memorable traditions, Food Fest on Saturday, Sept. 5.
“I love Food Fest,” said Taylor Holman, a junior graphic design and peace building major from Mesa, Ariz. “I love seeing and experiencing all the different cultures. There are not a lot of universities were you can experience something like this. We are indeed very lucky.”
People gathered to the Little Circle to enjoy a night of food, music and culture as they had the chance to eat ethnic foods from a number of different countries.
A notable association in its second year here on campus was the Native American Association. Their cultural food, the Navajo taco and fry bread, attracted the attention of those who attended. “We decided on the Navajo taco since a majority of the Native Americans here on campus are Navajos,” said Tyler Saganey, a junior secondary education major from the Navajo nation.
Food historians credit the invention of fry bread to the thousands of Navajo who were forced off their land in the “Long Walk” to Arizona’s Fort Sumner in 1864. With the government only giving the Navajos rations of white flour, sugar, and lard, the people began to make fry bread, a tradition that stuck even when they returned to their reservation.
Due to the close proximity of the Navajo Reservation to Mexico and the extensive Spanish influence in Arizona the addition of beans, meat, and cheese followed suit and created what it now know as the Navajo taco.
While some associations shared dinner food, a few shared typical desserts consumed in their countries.
The Indonesian Association featured a delicious combination of native desserts: martabak manis and roti bakar. Club President Narendra Saputra Mongan, an information technology junior from Indonesia, said the martabak manis is an all-time Indonesian favorite. It is a folded pancake with chocolate, peanuts, vanilla, and cheese sandwiched in the middle.
Mongan said the roti bakar is a dessert commonly eaten with friends and family. It is similar to French toast but instead it is topped with chocolate, vanilla, nuts, and cheese.
For Indonesians, the mixture of sweet foods with cheese is a common theme in their dessert foods. “In Indonesia we like sweet food and love mixing it with cheese. Some people might think it is a bad mix, but it is really good,” said Mongan.