A new club has been started at Monmouth Academy this year. It is called the Foreign Food and Film Club. As a proud member of this new club, I have been to two foreign food and film nights. The club meets about once a month in the chorus room at our school on Friday nights to watch a foreign movie and eat foreign food! Everyone contributes a dish or drink to the meal. I must say that we have some gifted, culinary artists in our school whose talents have now been recognized! I have enjoyed both movies immensely; they are a welcome viewing change from your standard American films. We’ve had so much fun both times that we’ve decided we need to meet more often.

Madame Olson, the former French Club advisor, and Senora Pollis, the former Spanish Club advisor, started the club together. Both decided that they needed to expand the horizons of their clubs and that they didn’t want to limit the clubs to just the study of French and Spanish cultures. So, they joined together to create a club that appreciates all cultures! The club just started this year and is always welcoming new members. So far, both get-togethers have been extraordinarily successful. The first night that we met the theme was India. The second night the theme was Russia, a special gathering dedicated to Monmouth Academy’s two Russian exchange students, Yulia and Ana.

On the night of our Indian theme, we watched “monsoon Wedding,” a foreign film about the preparation for the marriage of a young Indian woman to an Indian man that was living in the Unites States. Dishes ranged from chickpea salad to orange chicken-couscous casserole to chicken curry. The aroma of cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, and curry filled our minds with thoughts of India as we began to watch the movie. Our second gathering had an even greater turnout as we celebrated the culture of Russia, home to Yulia and Ana! We watched “Burnt by the Sun,” a film about an officer’s family living in their summer home during the Russian Revolution. Dishes included my favorite, Pelmenki (a sort of cooked dumpling filled with ground meat), pancakes, teacakes, the sinful Ukranian chocolate cake, Russian apple pie, beet salad, and more’

I am ecstatic that this club has begun at Monmouth Academy. Food and film are such a large component of any culture, and to be involved in such a club is to recognize our interest in other cultures and appreciate what makes each one unique and special. I only wish this club had started before my senior year! Hopefully, this club will continue for many years, so that future “foreigners” will be able to visit many lands and cultures through foreign food and film.