On March 28, more than 40 international students from the International Cultural Exchange School (ICES) participated in one of the activities in the Shanghai Citizen Cultural Festival, which was called "Siping on the Tongue--Community Food Carnival.” The event was co-sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Yangpu District and Siping Neibourhood office. YAN Lixing, a Polish student of ICES and the workers of Siping Neibourhood hosted the cooking show together.

During the event, residents presented more than 30 dishes from eight major cuisines such as Sichuan, Shandong, Huaiyang. Our international students presented more than 20 dishes from five countries: Spain, Italy, Yemen, Dominica and South Korea. Chefs and international students who are gourmets tasted and made comments about each dish. The best dishes were awarded certificates. Then, a professional chef demonstrated how to make Chinese food. All of the dishes were enjoyed together by the residents and the international students who participated in this event. The students were very proud and happy to see the homemade local food of their motherland eaten-up.

During the break, international students also performed dancing, rapping, guitar playing, and singing. These activities added some fun and served as the climax of the program.

Since the campaign of "two integration", which includes the integration of the international students and the community and the integration of International and Chinese students has been launched in ICES, International students now go into the community every year to participate in activities like singing, dancing, cultural exhibitions, and volunteer service with local residents. However, this is the first attempt to use food as the theme of communication. The activity not only helped the international students have a deeper and more intuitive understanding of the Chinese food culture, but it also helped the local residents have a taste of exotic International cuisine. It will become another brand project of the co-construction between ICES and the Siping community.

Translated by May Language Studio based upon

http://news.tongji.edu.cn/classid-6-newsid-46457-t-show.html