When you walked into the “International Food Fest,” you saw flags from different countries dance from the windows to the walls. Rows of serape-covered tables surrounded by people of all grades and ages. A buffet hidden by the bodies of people trying to grab their favorite ethnic bites before they disappeared.

International Food Fest is an annual celebration that has been occurring for 13 years, according to Upper School French teacher Lorin Pritikin. Pritikin started the Fest to celebrate the cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of Parker. This year the Fest, which took place on May 19 in the Draft Gym, was organized by the French Club, the American Field Service (AFS) Committee, Upper School french teacher Cynthia Marker, and Pritikin. According to Pritikin, at least 20 different cuisines were served and more than 125 people attended the event.

The space was the biggest change for the International Food Fest team this year, according to Marker. “The cafeteria was taken this year, so we’re doing it in the Draft Gym, which should be a fun space,” Marker said before the event. “We’re looking forward to seeing how that looks with all the light coming in.” Marker noted the possibility that they may like the space and just schedule the Fest there for next year.

Pritikin remembers when she first started the International Food Fest. “I had no clue as to what I was doing,” Pritikin said. “Being a mom of public school kids, an international food fest was not a foreign concept. Public schools had been doing them for years, and I had always attended them.”

Pritikin wanted to introduce such an event at Parker, but the community members she told believed that there wasn’t enough diversity at Parker.“I was like, ‘Look out–I’m little, but I’m determined!’” Pritikin said. “The first year I did it, I think I almost ended up in a mental health facility because I didn’t know to have committees and to have a division of labor.”

This was when she realized that students could become the backbone of the fest and so, learn more about their surroundings. Pritikin is grateful for student artistry in creating digital marketing campaigns, putting posters up around the school, decorating the space, and inviting Chicago exchange students to be guests at the International Food Fest.

“It’s her original project, and I just showed up and started helping her,” Marker said. “I’ve been at Parker for nine years, and this is the 13th one, so it was already going strong several years before I got here.”

The food at the event was represented well in the team’s advertisements, Marker said, but what was overlooked was the entertainment that accompanied the global cuisine.

“This year, Grape Jam and Parker Jazz Bands will perform along with Ensemble Español,” Marker said. “Ensemble Español is a dance troupe who has performed for us before. They feature many young dancers and incredible choreography.”

The young girls and women of Ensemble Español danced to acoustic music. Their flowy royal blue pants and flower-patterned shirts floated with each sway of their hips. They twirled their arms above their heads and posed every few seconds.

A Russian dance troupe, slam poetry, and French poetry are other forms of entertainment that have been present at the International Food Fest in the past.

The planning process began in January, according to President of French Club and junior Chloe Wagner. “We start at the beginning of the semester and think about what restaurants we want to go to,” Wagner said, “and the decorations and performers we want too.”

According to Wagner, French Club and AFS walked up and down Clark street at the beginning of the school year to hand out International Food Fest flyers to restaurants. Club members asked the restaurants if they could donate food and confirmed with each of these restaurants in early May about their commitments.

The restaurants that typically donate to the International Food Fest are Sushi Para II, Standard Marker, Benjyehuda, and Vanille, according to Wagner. The International Food Fest team doesn’t have a theme every year–its members simply strive to reflect the international cuisine and culture that is represented in the dishes and entertainment.

The team typically invites other Chicago-land AFS students, Pritikin said, to shadow classes and then honor them in the evening. “It’s always hard to get the kids to come even though we start early with our campaign,” Pritikin said. “We’re still a few days away and not sure who is going to show up from the AFS program.”

In the past, as many as eight other non-Parker AFS students have attended, but in some years, only three or four, according to Pritikin. AFS student and senior Vlado Vojdanovski was present, as he deemed the Fest an important event to converse with other exchange students in the Chicago area.

“We want to give students at Parker a more global perspective outside of the language they’re just taking at school,” Wagner said. “Even if it’s just exposure to different food, experiencing new cultures and music and showing them cultures outside of the U.S. is very important.”  

Freshman Isaac Warshaw appreciated the diversity of food at the fest. “This is my first year, and I really like free food,” Warshaw said. “I go where the free food is, so this event called my name. It’s also fun, we get free performers. It’s good, I like it.”

Amidst the crowd of Middle School Jazz Band watchers was grandmother Josie Hamachi, whose grandson is seventh grader Thomas Goldstein. “We’ve been coming ever since he joined the band, maybe this is the third time,” Hamachi said. “We keep coming back to show our support. We come all the way from Nixon, Illinois and that’s at least an hour and a half away, way west.”

Pritikin emphasized the importance of the event. “I think the treasure of this place is that so many of our students, even starting with the youngest, come from a treasure of diverse backgrounds,” Pritikin said. “We have bicultural families where the mom and the dad are from different cultures, both linguistically or ethnically or racially. There are so many different mixes of families that I wanted to remind us first, let’s celebrate that.”