Breaking bread, spanning cultures: CCHS food fest celebrates diversity
“It has turned into an event that no matter who you are, what you do in the school, everyone comes.”
Food, Ray Pavlik says, is a “vehicle to bring the community together and celebrate our diversity.”
Inspired by his love for food and culture, the Acton-Carlisle High School science teacher started the school’s Multicultural Food Festival in 2019, hoping it would spark conversations and encourage people to learn about one another’s backgrounds.
Since then, the festival has grown significantly, drawing between 500 and 700 attendees each year. The sixth iteration of the annual event took place March 3, in the CCHS cafeteria, with more than 70 families and over 10 local restaurants bringing food and representing 45 countries, cultures, and religions.
“It has turned into an event that no matter who you are,” Pavlik says, “what you do in the school, everyone comes.”
Tacos, lumpia, and bábovka
The cafeteria buzzed with excitement as hundreds of students and community members moved about sampling dishes. Colorfully decorated tables offered everything from tacos and pavlova to lumpia and dumplings.
CCHS junior Marina Grein, representing the Czech Republic, brought bábovka, a farmer’s cheese pound cake, and borůvkové knedlíky — blueberry dumplings with powdered sugar and butter. Events like the festival are important, Grein says, because “people can learn more about their peers and see other cultures and understand their places.”
Marzieh Sharifi, representing Iran, brought baklava and tahchin. “The U.S. is a multicultural community, and there are people from all over the world,” Sharifi said. “It’s necessary that people know about each other’s cultures.”
For many, the festival also offers a connection to home.
Rhonah Nakalyowa, who immigrated from Uganda 15 years ago, works with the cultural organization Ggwanga Mujje Boston to help children maintain their heritage through summer camps, cultural dances, and traditional dress. The scale of the festival impressed her. “Even if we are far away from home,” she says, “we feel invited and appreciated.”
‘Forget our differences’
French teacher Nouna Dang Duy Pinto helped students coordinate preparing food and believes the festival allows students to celebrate their identities. She says the gathering “reflects the diversity of the school” and lets us “forget our differences.”
Florence Roussel-Ehrenthal, also a French teacher, has been involved with the festival from its start. She has always promoted it in her classes and has seen more students embracing their backgrounds over the years.
The festival, she says, ”allows people to be proud of their cultural differences.” Though students once hesitated to highlight those differences, she now sees them celebrating them — “proud of their language, proud of their cultural diversity.”
While the festival offers a chance to sample dishes from around the world, it is about far more than just food — it is about preserving heritage and passing it on.
“We’re carrying the torch of our cultures from home,” Nakalyowa says.
