Letter: 'Taste of Nations' Delicious and Educational

It was a full house at Citizens’ Memorial Elementary School on Friday night,  as more than 200 students, family members and teachers celebrated their first Taste of Nations dinner event.

Thanks to food and gift card donations by local merchants, the evening was an enormous success! And not only was it a tasty evening, but a learning experience for all.

During the preceding weeks, Mrs. Cifelli’s fifth-grade students in room 10 worked relentlessly on researching countries from around the world. They created an interactive geography display about the culture and foods from different nations, which included articles of clothing and souvenirs borrowed from their school family, as well as the Taste of Nations trivia contest.  Starting at 5 p.m., teachers, along with Mrs. Martinez, a PTO member, donned their plastic gloves and began serving up a smorgasbord representative of the food eaten in a variety of international locations. The attendees dined in the cafeteria while listening to music from different cultures.

Everyone had high praise for the variety of foods, and Citizens’ Memorial staff members in charge of coordinating the event said they are extremely thankful for the donations by Plaza Mexico, Lotus Thai, Taco Bell, Ciro’s Tavern, New China Super Buffet, J’s Deli, Pacific Asian Cuisine, The Burrito Co., Sodexo, Subway, Shaws, Pepsi, Dunkin’ Donuts, KFC, Bentley’s Tavern, Ye Olde English Fish and Chips, Michael’s Meats, and Famous Pizza.  

After dinner, students who dressed in cultural attire were invited onto the stage to dance to the international music. Afterwards, Mr. Diaz, the school principal, proudly raffled off gift cards donated by some of the participating merchants. It was an educational and fun evening for all!

Kim Mowbray
Reading Specialist
Citizens' Memorial Elementary School