Around the World in 73 Bites

Originally published in the Lebanon Reporter on February 23, 2007

Usually this column appears in Thursday’s paper but we had to pushed to Friday in order to accommodate my travel schedule and so I could tell you about my adventure. You see, I went on a round-the-world trip, visiting far away lands like Bosnia, Finland, Jordan, the Philippines, and lots of places in-between.

I had some company on the trip. My sojourners included Julie Parks, from Parky’s Smokehouse, about 200 students, and many of their families. You might think a trip like this would have taken several weeks, maybe months. We all actually traveled Santa-Claus style, doing it all in one night. Oh, did I mention that on the visit all these places, we never left the Lebanon Middle School?

Confused? Here’s the rest of the story. Wednesday night was the Lebanon Middle School’s Worlds Fair and Julie Parks and I were invited to be Guest Judges for the Food Court. The Middle School’s World’s Fair is a real site to behold. Teams of students pick a country, learn about it, develop some projects, create a display, and then set it all up for the evening event.

Many of the participants also prepare a food from the country and have it available for sampling. That’s where Julie and I came in. The food portion of the event is organized by the math faculty with Mary Shirley and Lisa Wulle taking the lead. The students who prepare food are eligible for extra credit points in three categories: taste, presentation, and authenticity. A total of nine extra credit points are available.

Over the course of a couple of hours, Julie and I got to visit each country, sample the food, talk with the student, and have an all-round wonderful time. Most of these student teams went all-out with their projects. Some had very elaborate displays. Others looked the part, with authentic costumes. A number of teams had really done their homework and were loaded with lots of information about their counties - the people, the customs, and the food.

In total, there were over 100 dishes to sample. Julie and I started our tour together so we could both taste everything but we soon realized we would have to divide and conquer if were going to make it to every booth that had food to taste. In total, I tasted about 67 dishes. This is a bit overwhelming even for a food guy like me - moving from savory to sweet, weaving from spicy to mild, and jumping from cold to hot.

Julie and I tasted a lot of really good dishes and I can honestly say that there wasn’t anything that was intolerable, and that in and of itself is pretty remarkable considering were talking middle school students and foods from places that have some food traditions that are pretty foreign to the typical American palate.

All of the students are to be congratulated for putting forth so much effort. There were, however, several standouts. As Julie and I compared notes afterward, we each had stories to tell about foods, sure, but mostly we talked about the students and those who showed great enthusiasm, loads of knowledge, and tremendous pride in their work.

Next week, in this column, I will reveal our choices for winners in three categories: Taste, Presentation, and Authenticity. Along with those three winners, we will have ten Honorable Mentions who stood out above the crowd.

When I got home Wednesday night, I fully anticipated having a night-long battle with gastro-intestinal jet lag but that didn’t happen. What did interrupt my sleep, however, was a strange dream about going through the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney World. Instead of three-foot robot children singing that stupid song, my dream had real-life middle schoolers, each coming at me with a platter of hors d'oeuvres.