Peace and World Conscience House: International Potluck

Apparently, as a Peace House tradition, we have an International Potluck every year to bring together or ethnicities and cultural heritages through the usage of homemade food. When first hearing about this gathering, I was really stumped as to what I should make because another housemate upstairs said he was going to make Irish soda bread so I wasn't allow to duplicate the same country. I thought long and hard about other places where my heritages have stemmed from and I thought of England. An old time favorite of mine was my mother's homemade Shepard's Pie, or otherwise known as Cottage Pie. This dish is thought to have stemmed from Northern England in the 1700s by poor families who needed to use the left over scraps of meat from the previous day's meal. Shepard's pie consists of beef, or lamb, covered in corn and mashed potato which would have been accessible to make a hearty meal. Surprisingly, some of my housemates have never tried, or heard of, Shepard's pie before. It had been a staple food in my household growing up so it was odd to think that other's had never tried a dish like this. Out of respect and hunger, we all agreed to try each other's dishes for a taste of what we all call home (and to judge each other's cooking abilities of course!)

African Donuts and Taco Soup 

At this Pot Luck, we had an array of cultures represent such as the Dominican Republic, Mali, Ivory Coast, Italy, Ireland, and Poland. Everyone was responsible for making their dishes homemade so no frozen dishes were accepted. This gathering brought our house closer together over the shared commonality of food. Not only was the house invited to this gathering, we asked our close friends to come and enjoy the food we prepared as well. We all love to eat and eating food from our culture as well as each others' was a really rewarding experience.

Chicken and Cheese Empanadas 

Even though Peace House consists of eight individuals from eight different places around the world, we were about to connect and share our experiences through the power of food.

Our One-of-a-Kind Pot Luck Experience