Cultural Fest, a free event featuring authentic food and entertainment from Ghana, India, Japan and China, will take place at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Library Quad.

The event will be hosted by the University Board along with the International Student Association, the Asian-American Association and the Chinese Student and Scholars association.

Tess McArthy, the University Board Human Potential Coordinator, said the event will be an opportunity for students to learn about other countries and their food.

“It’s just for students to get to know the different cultures and the different students that are represented on campus,” McArthy said. “We have students from Ghana, we have students from China, Japan and India, and every single country has a representative that is from that country.”

McArthy said the students from India will be making a traditional rice dish called Pulihora, the representatives from Ghana will be making Jollof, which is also a traditional rice dish from their country, Japan’s representatives will be making “frushi” as an alternative to traditional sushi and the students from China will be serving veggie egg roles.

“This is going to be a good opportunity for students to ask questions that they’ve always wondered about,” McArthy said. “A lot of Americans have a lot of stereotypes associated with these countries, and this is a good method to maybe clear the air about some of those stereotypes and learn a little bit about what EIU students have experienced in their lifetime.”

The event is also an opportunity for students to learn about one another, according to McArthy.

“We all come from different backgrounds,” McArthy said. “This is a cool way to showcase each other’s backgrounds.”

McArthy said she is excited for Cultural Fest.

“I’m most looking forward to the food,” McArthy said. “I’m really looking forward to tasting the most authentic dishes that you can serve because … you don’t get Ghana Jollof every day in Charleston, Illinois, so you get to try a lot of really cool food that you wouldn’t get to normally try.”

Eliza Daugherty, the University Board Concert Coordinator, said she is also looking forward to the event.

“I really want to see the non-international students interact and get to know the international students,” Daugherty said. “I feel like the international students are sometimes in their own little world, they’re in their own little box, because they have a different orientation than your standard freshman or your standard transfer student, and just to see the connections and the bonds made between those two groups of people, the traditional students and the international students.”

Mercury Bowen can be reached at 581-2812 or mjbowen@eiu.edu.