A Diner’s World Tour- Diversity Calendar

On November 16, 2009 I attended A Diner’s World Tour at Landrum on Georgia Southern’s campus. The event was like a festival in which there were a variety of foods spread out among Season’s in Landrum. Since it was not just one culture being represented here, there was not just one culture present- there were many! The event started at 12 p.m., I did not get there until 12:30 p.m. which was the prime time for students wanting to catch an international lunch with a variety of foods. The lines were slowly starting to get longer, as well as the smell of the food was getting stronger.

The make-up of the people attending A Diner’s World Tour was very diverse when it came to gender, race and ethnicity. This was surprising because not many campus events that I have attended in the past are full of diversity. After asking a handful of students what year they were at GSU, there seemed to be a pattern of freshmen, this was probably due to the fact that the freshmen dorm is right across the road from there or the fact that the majority of freshman have meal plans.

I did not really learn much from the event, because it was not very formal. The event was very casual- come as you are, eat lunch talk with a few people and leave as you please. It would not surprise me  if some of the people who attended did not even realize that  there was an event going on, some might have just thought there was international food that day just because. I would attend the event again in the future if there was another one, especially since I did not try any of the foods and I would want to next time.

Freshmen Jenni Farahdel told me that she did not really notice  a major difference in Landrum yesterday, except for a little larger crowd and a stronger smell of foods. I asked Jenni if there was anything that she would have liked to see different at Season’s that day, and she said it would have been nice to see some jewish foods like challah, potatoe latkes and matzah, because these food represent her and her family.

In comparing this event to other American events, this reminded me much of a food court at the mall. Because food courts are full of a variety of people and a variety of foods. Also in food courts you can taste small portions and purchase larger portions just like how it was at Landrum.

I did not feel as if I was part of a different culture because the event took place at where I go to school. But I did feel as if I were in an unfamiliar place because I did not recognize anyone except one other class member from my PRCA 3333 course. I did not feel uncomfortable here, but I did feel slightly uncomfortable sitting by myself as I observed all the people actually participating in A Diner’s World Tour.

Overall, I believe that the event was a success and that there was a variety of people who attended and everyone seemed to be really satisfied with all the foods present.