International students represented their cultures through the culinary arts Friday at the annual International Food Expo in Carter Hall.

About 500 students, faculty and community members visited the expo and experienced food from parts of Asia, Central America and Europe as well as Saudi Arabia, India and the U.S.

Guests rounded the corner upon arrival and experienced food from India first.

Volunteers, most of whom were international students, served food from around the globe from Saudi Arabia to Spain with sushi from Japan for the finale.

Every country displayed an item of cultural significance at their booth.

Many volunteers go home for winter break and return with trinkets from their homelands, said Andrea Barnard, assistant director of International Programs and Services.

The expo had 65 volunteers this year.

This year seemed easier than previous years, Barnard said.

“The cooking went really smoothly, and the students knew what they were doing.”

This year all the booths had nutritional information present.

Junior dietetics major Andres Ayesta suggested this change.

Ayesta helped prepare food from Venezuela, his home country and was excited that it had a booth this year.

“I love this country and I love to represent it,” Ayesta said. He hosted expo for two consecutive years now, in addition to helping prepare food.

International students from South Korea Suakyung Kim, Selki Kim and Ariel Kim spent eight hours cooking their traditional dish, bulgogi.

They served the dish in gowns they brought from home.

Business major Selki Kim said Americans are extremely nice and pleasant.

Whenever someone in the U.S. makes eye contact they say ‘hello’, she said.

“In Korea, we don’t normally say ‘hi, how are you’ to strangers.”

A fashion show and awards ceremony closed out the event.

India took home the award for Best Food, while Nicaragua won Best Booth.  Saudi Arabia won Best Overall Booth and Food.

International students took advantage of this opportunity to share their traditional dances with the audience, dancing together unified as the event came to a close.