By Chaitra Somasundar, Staff Writer
The aroma of delicious food pervaded the entire house as we walked into our first Sun Creek event. We excitedly ran to the kitchen to see what was being cooked for dinner. The sounds of music, chatter and laughter filled the hallway in the meantime. When delicious dinner was served, it was devoured in minutes!
Chinese Food Night (photo courtesy of Yan Ren)
Sun Creek Food Club was created and organized by Isabel Swoveland (MGM ’16, US). The club organizes a cuisine specific dinner for friends, on weekends and it is hosted and prepared by T-bird volunteers. Guests can bring in relevant and unique cuisine items to be used for cooking, or drinks. Or else, they even have the option to pay $5 to help cover the hosts’ expenses.
We spoke to Prita John (MGM ’16, India) who has been both a cook and a guest at the event. “My experience has been wonderful! I enjoyed cooking for the Indian night and the Venezuelan night. It was really nice that everyone was so enthusiastic about opening up their house for so many people” she said.
Food prepared by volunteers (photo courtesy of Yan Ren)
“I am a huge foodie, but in my opinion the best part of eating a good meal is the experience of enjoying it with friends and family. When I started school at Thunderbird, I wanted to build a community that also had a passion for sharing food and stories. Since Thunderbird is such an international school I thought, “why not share international food?” The group was then formed as a way to bring together people who travel so that we can share our stories over food, and feel a sense of place and community in our new home”, Isabel said, when we asked her about what drove her decision to start the Sun Creek Food Club.
Some of the major challenges the organizers have been facing are getting the food ready on time and accurately accounting for the number of guests. When Isabel started the group, she never expected so many students to be interested in attending. As more and more students have joined, a group of of the club members have come up with a better way to account for the number of people attending the events.
This wonderful event held on almost every alternate weekend has marked the beginning of our Thunderbird journey with new friendships, cuisines and experiences.