Missoula chef Ray Risho was in culinary heaven as he meandered among the international crowd, stopping to taste the flavors of the world and savor the multicultural experience the festival provides.
Risho said he wasn't surprised the food booths, which were table-to-table on the first floor of the University Center, attracted a seemingly endless crowd.
“Everyone understands food,” Risho said. “It's what's called cultural imprinting - eat this food, this is who I am. To me, food is the lowest common denominator that connects us all.”
On Sunday, the foods of the world were on display for all to enjoy. Beautifully assembled sushi, Indonesian satay and Korean sweet-potato noodle dishes were just a few of the offerings.
Loyola Sacred Heart High School senior Myles Dauterive didn't mind the wait for the African food.
“I've never had it before, but it looks really good,” Dauterive said.
The veteran festival-goer has been coming to the event for the past five years because it's an inexpensive way to experience different cultures and to try new things, he said.
“The food is good and you never know what you will find,” he said. “It's always interesting.”
The event always draws a huge crowd, but the elbow-to-elbow throng was estimated to be the biggest ever, said Effie Koehn, director of UM's Foreign Students and Scholar Services.
Koehn was helping to monitor the dance and performance venue in the UC Ballroom, which had a steady audience numbering in the hundreds.
As the festival's reputation has grown, so too have the number of performers, some of whom are students from other Montana schools, Koehn said.
A crowd-pleaser this year was the Polynesian Culture Club from the University of Montana-Western in Dillon, performing at the event for the first time.
Early into the programming, the crowd burst into appreciative applause and whistles for the Elenita Brown Dance Group, which gave a commanding performance of classical Spanish dance, executing graceful moves to the distinctive sound of castanets.
The crowd was also enthralled by a trio of Japanese exchange students - Nanako Arita, Aya Arai and Fumihiko Yamaguchi. They performed a modern-dance choreography set to an old folk song fishermen sing in northern Japan.
Dressed in red happis - Japanese robes worn at festivals - the threesome gave a dramatic, high-energy performance punctuated by sharp, sweeping movements that mimicked fishermen hauling in the nets and catch of the day.
After the performance, Arita gushed, saying she loves performing and studying at UM.
“I love the programs here, and it is a great place to experience a foreign country,” said Arita, who is studying costume design and comes from Gifu, a city that feels and looks like Missoula.
“This is the third University of Montana international festival I have attended, and I really like it,” she said. “It gives us a great opportunity to show ourselves - and it's great because there is a lot of diversity in one spot, beautiful dance and beautiful costumes.
“Everything about this festival is great.”
The festival continues throughout the week at UM. For a full schedule of events, log on to www.umt.edu/ip.
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