In hopes of invigorating cultural presence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Indian Student Association (ISA) hosted the Cultural Food Fair for the second time on Friday, Oct. 14. The event was held in the middle of the courtyard during the entirety of both A and B lunches.

ISA hosted this event last school year for the first time on March 9, and following the event’s success, decided to continue it for this year as well. The event is primarily a fundraiser for ISA, however they plan to send 35% of the event’s profits to the Pakistan flood relief. It was planned by ISA co-presidents, seniors Eman Ali and Anjali Sethi and ISA sponsor and English teacher Chelsea Briggs.

“It took roughly two months to put it all together, and we mainly decided to have the food fair again since it was so popular last year,” Ali said. “Douglas is a predominantly white institution and we just wanted to spread appreciation for other cultures throughout our school.”

Tickets were sold throughout the week leading up to the food fair at the L-counter in the cafeteria, and at the entrance the day of. Tickets were five dollars and included three samples of three foods from the booths.

There were 10 booths all with different countries which were either sponsored by clubs or other organizations on campus. Some of which included Indian food sponsored by ISA, Chinese food sponsored by the Asian Student Association and French food sponsored by French Club.

Samples were distributed in all the booths, with each club that sponsored its booth hosting between three to six volunteers to allocate the distribution of samples. All samples of food were either purchased or donated from local restaurants.

New clubs like Brazilian Student Association and Caribbean Student Association also participated in the event and had their own booths.

“I thought it would be a really great idea to spread [Brazilian] culture to those who don’t really know much about it and it was a really good opportunity to spread our relatively new club around,” BRASA co-president senior Gabriella Campos said.

Teachers, faculty members and students all participated in the food fair, buying tickets and sampling foods from all around the globe. The event will most likely be held in future years to come, and ISA is considering even once more in the spring of this 2022-23 school year.