Taste the World and only travel to North Carolina

On Saturday, Sept. 17, Grand Strand residents have only to cross the border into North Carolina’s Brunswick County in order to savor panoply of international goodies.

Foods from at least twenty different food donors will be available in the Tasting Tent from 12:30-2:30 p.m. These diverse foods are being prepared by local restaurant and residents who may have roots in other lands but have blossomed right here along the Carolina coast.

The tasting does cost $8 plate. Mari Lou Wong-Chong, Festival Director said, “Food tasting is from 12:30-2:30. Come early as food tasting is very popular and food could run out before 2:30pm.” There are more than 20 restaurants and individual “donors” supplying food for the tasting.

Some of this year’s delicious offerings will include Buko made by Glena Modesto Moses. This is a fried sticky rice with coconut, coconut milk and brown sugar that is a popular Filipino appetizer or dessert Thailand’s spicy cuisine will be represented by donor Nalinee Tantayopin from Sunset Beach. She will prepare chicken Musamum, a popular a Thai dish. This type of chicken is cooked with special chili Thai paste in coconut cream with potatoes served with rice.

As of this writing, other booths for the tasting tent had not yet made a final decision on what they will be preparing for fairgoers to sample. The group is more than twenty strong and includes many area restaurants and individuals, in addition to the two above. Represented will be the Cape Fear India Association, an Indonesian food donor, Jerome Steak House, Papa John, Inlet View, Mama Brava’s Tokyo Express, Grapevine, Sugar Shack, Purple Onion Chili’s, Fin’s Grill, San Felipe Pizzeria& Bistro, Golden Coral, and Angelo’s . These folks will be swerving up a variety that will include Mexican, Italian, Southern, Jamaican, local, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, and Mediterranean cuisine. If you think a little of this and that is not your style, never fear, there will be other food to purchase. Several food trucks have been invited to sell food and festival goers will be able to purchase Pelicans snowballs.

As you eat, you can watch ethnic dance and music at the entertainment stage performed by locals. The entertainment, visiting variety of merchandise booths, and participating in children’s crafts is free. This includes the very popular Passport to Culture activity where children of all ages will be provided with their own “passport” to travel different countries (in the various booths) and complete learning activities, art projects and crafts to earn their “stamp.”

Wong-Chong says, “The mission of the festival is to create, “a comprehensive global learning environment which provides for a place for cultural education, artistic enhancement, and sharing the music, dance, food of diverse cultures of members of the community. This in turn will foster better understanding, tolerance, awareness, respect and appreciation of each other’s culture in Brunswick County.”

If a visit on Sept. 17 is not possible, you may want to consider Sunday’s Free (but call ahead to reserve tickets) entertainment by the African Children’s Choir at 7 PM at the Odell Williamson Auditorium. Call 910-755-7416 to reserve the free tickets to hear this internationally acclaimed group.

For more information visit the website at www.bcifestival.org or call Mari-Lou Wong-Chong 910-842-6566.

This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Taste the World and only travel to North Carolina."