OXFORD, Miss. – Students and locals can sample authentic Jordanian
cuisine next week at the seventh civic dinner hosted by the Cook! Eat!
Share! organization.
The “Jordan Table” dinner is set for 6-7:30
p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 28) at Sarap Tea Room and Gift Shoppe, 14 County
Road 307 in Oxford. The three-course meal includes an appetizer, main
course and dessert. Jordan’s national dish, mansaf, is being served as
the main course. A seminar on Jordanian culture follows the meal.
Tickets are $18 each and seating is limited, so tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. E-mail requests for reservations to Daphne Ingene at ceshare@olemiss.edu by Oct. 27. Ingene will reply with a confirmation number, which must be used to purchase tickets at the University Counseling Center.
Ingene, a native of Hong Kong and graduate student in counseling education, is the dinner coordinator.
“Jordan’s culture and food are not very well-known by many Americans,” Ingene said. “Through tasting Jordanian food, we want to learn more about its culture and history.”
The most interesting dish that will be served at the dinner is none other than mansaf, the national dish of Jordan, Ingene said. Well-known and liked throughout the Middle East, mansaf is made of lamb, rice, yogurt, egg and Jordanian spices. Other foods to be served are tabbouleh, a mixed herb salad; and kolage, a dessert made with phyllo dough.
Sufian Ahmad, a computer science major from Jordan, is to give a Power Point presentation on Jordanian culture after the meal.
“I know that a lot of people either don’t know much about Jordan or they really have a distorted idea,” Ahmad said. “If they really want to know what Jordan is like, they should come to this dinner.”
The Cook! Eat! Share! organization was created last fall by the UM Counseling Center. The multicultural organization has hosted six dinners – featuring the foods and culture of China, Thailand, Brazil and other countries – that were very well-received.
“The turnout for last year’s dinners was fantastic,” Ingene said. “We always had a long waiting list. We have an increasing number of reservations already for this dinner.”
Anyone with an interest in ethnic cuisine and culture should attend the event, she said.
“If you are curious or are very adventurous about food – if you are curious and interested in learning about other cultures, this is a wonderful opportunity,” Ingene said. “There is no other place that offers this kind of opportunity.”
Cook! Eat! Share! is planning its next dinner, which will feature either Korean or Italian cuisine, she said.
For directions to Sarap Tea Room and Gift Shoppe, call 662-259-2622. For more information or for assistance related to a disability, contact Ingene at ceshare@olemiss.edu or 662-915-3784.