Cultural cuisine on and off campus
During the 2005-2006 school year, NDSU had 675 international students from 74 different countries, according to www.ndsu.edu/equal_opportunity.
To help represent some of the individual cultures on campus, Dining Services has begun development on a new addition to the food court called International Cuisine, a restaurant located in the Memorial Union.
“We’ve been doing a lot of research, trying to make sure that we get everything as authentic as we can,” Mary Sinner, catering/retail manager for NDSU Dining Services, said. “We get only one shot to open and if you don’t get it right, people don’t want to come back.”
Sinner said that Dining Services has been working really hard on getting recipes right and even purchased a large Wok, a bowl-shaped Chinese frying pan, to prepare large amounts of food in.
“We’re going to have some sort of Asian dish everyday, not specifically just Chinese or Japanese - there might be a Korean dish,” Sinner said, “Tuesday and Thursday we’re going to do Indian food.”
Sinner said there is a push from the direction of the number of students NDSU has been getting from India to include more Indian foods on the menu.
“We are in contact with a lot of international students, because they make up a huge percentage of our student-employee base,” Sinner said. “We’ve been having some of the Indian students taste some of the food that we’re making, telling us do we have it right, do we not, or are we at least close.”
Students can look forward to choosing between a basic Asian dish everyday such as sweet and sour dishes, and stir-fry dishes such as fried rice and lo mien, Sinner said.
A rotation on Monday, Wednesday and Friday will contain four entree options, which are still to be determined, along with four Indian food entrees which will fall on Tuesday and Thursday.
“We’ve already had very positive, inquisitive, can’t-wait-till-it-opens feedback from students,” Sinner said. “I hope to have it open in the next couple of weeks, but it will be open by March for sure.”
Along with the on-campus restaurant, the Fargo-Moorhead area hosts a number of international restaurants as well.
The Saffron, a restaurant that opened in 2004, offers a large selection of East Indian cuisine.
“We actually get a lot of students from NDSU, MSUM and Concordia,” Vivek Syan, manager of the Saffron said. “We do see a lot of families and international students as well. I think we’re a good restaurant for anyone who has a palate for good food.”
Aladdin, another international food restaurant, serves dishes with Greek and Middle Eastern influence.
Other Fargo restaurants that serve cultural dishes include the Greek influenced, Santa Lucia; Vietnamese influenced, Saigon; Japanese and Chinese influenced, Yuki Hana and Nine Dragons, and the Hu Hut Mongolian Grill.