Apple strudels from Austria, chocolate infused Baklava with a Turkish twist, flavours from the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, South America, Africa, Poland, the U.K. and Ukraine all filled the aromatic senses as kids at Rendell Park School returned one of their favourite end-of-year treats – the International Bazaar.
School officials were last able to have the event before the pandemic restrictions and the learning allowed for participants to gain knowledge about the relationships between places like Norway, Sweden, Scania, Denmark and Finland ahead of tasting the cuisine that the kids had prepared.
Grade six student Rowan Korn says the exercise gives them a better sense of the world. While he likes Argentina, who are the current world soccer champions, he favours quite a few other countries that students displayed at the festival.
“It’s just to teach each other what’s going on around the world. We have some apple strudel. There are some chocolates that we have from Austria. There’s Jamaica. We have South Africa. There’s Madagascar and Argentina,” says the 11-year-old.
With some 35 countries having their food and culture on display in the gym, the student-led exercise was a welcome break with coordination from parents and staff.
Grade six teacher Caroline Lopaschuk explains the exercise is part of the curriculum and involves language arts and social studies research.
“So, what their expectation was – to pick an Atlantic country and talk about landscape, climate, flora and fauna; national symbols – even literacy rates, clothing and things like. Some of them even dressed up in the clothing of the culture.”
With this being the first time they have been able to have the event in four years, Lopaschuk says the kids were also excited to be able to bring in food or drink from their chosen country to share at the bazaar.
