Celebrating cultures from around the world was the focus of Friday’s International Day in Nija Higgins’ culinary arts and food science classes with each student assigned a country to research and then provide a popular dish representing that culture.

“I like to get people out of their comfort zone,” Higgins said. “I want us to understand the beauty of learning about someone else different from you.”

Students had to research specific information about their country, such as attractions, government, attire, traditions, history, and interesting facts, and display it to the class.

“This project was sort of like the icebreaker to show them that ‘hey, you know I may have had a stereotype about this particular culture, but now that has been diminished because I’ve learned something from them and I’m learning about their food’, so it’s educational,” Higgins said. “That’s the whole purpose of us here is to educate students outside of their comfort zones.”

All displays and dishes were spread throughout the culinary arts classroom for all students to observe and enjoy.

“I thought this project was really fun,” sophomore Alyssa Nayar said. “I was able to learn more not only about the country I was assigned, but about countries all around the world.”