Hundreds attended the Office of Global Education and Dining Services’ sixth annual International Cook-Off that took place Thursday as part of International Education Week.

Judges for the event included Dean of the College of Architecture Douglas Steidl, ESL Center Director Jeffrey Judge and Head of the Doctoral Program in the Higher Education Administration Stephen Thomas.

Team Sri Lanka won over the judges with its fried rice and fish ball dish and fruit punch. The People’s Choice Award was given to Team Oman who made majboos, a fried rice, saffron and chicken dish.

Team Sri Lanka will have its dish featured in Kent Market 2 and both winners received medals and trophies.

“I’ve come five times and every year they have a different country join and I like trying the different foods,” Shui Yu said, a senior finance major. “Learning another country’s culture is really beautiful.”

The cook-off consisted of six student teams representing India, China, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Oman. Each team was responsible for preparing and cooking a traditional dish and non-alcoholic drink from its home country.

“The International Cook-Off is always a good opportunity for students to sample food from all over the world and I think we had a really successful event this year,” said Annie Cima, graduate assistant at the Office of Global Education.

This was the first year an admission fee was asked of attendees and all of the proceeds will go directly to Freedom House, which supports homeless veterans.

“We’re really pleased we were able to raise over $700 for Freedom House and they told us they’d be purchasing new carpet with the money,” Cima said.

 Kaitlin Walker is the international reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].