Recently we gathered some of the local au pairs together for a delicious evening of international food sampling! A diverse collection of foods were served!
- Steamed bread and melktert from South Africa.
- Meatballs, potato salad, schnitzel, pancakes with cinnamon sugar / applesauce and Kinder chocolate from Germany.
- Mung bean salad and Chinese sausage along with rice candy, White Rabbit candy, Poky Sticks and a jello type candy to celebrate Lunar New Year.
- Kielbasa and pasta from Poland.
- A chicken dish similar to chicken fricasse from Brazil.
- Dragonfruit from Central America.
- Representing the US – Oreos, apple pie, our interpretation of Chicago style popcorn (a mix of cheddar, caramel and regular buttered & salt) and Pop Rocks!
“I really enjoyed our International Potluck. It was so nice to talk about our home country, exchange traditions and of course to try something very typical from each country. It was super delicious and I really love spending time with all of you! I had super nice conversations. I tried everything and I think my favorite was Patrycja’s polish food, and the 
Chinese noodles! Actually, EVERYTHING was amazing! It was such a great experience. I had a wonderful time! Thank you for making this happen!”
“I loved everything! The food was great and I loved the potato salad and the Chicago popcorn and how can I forget the pop rocks, it was really cool! I didn’t know what dragon fruit was and that is was cactus plant and that is indigenous to the America’s that was really cool. I honestly enjoyed everything. 
“The International Potluck was fun! Pauline and I were talking about it and we recognized that we only got to try very tasty dishes. There was nothing that we didn’t like! I personally tried all the food: Brazilian salad, South African bread, South African dessert, Polish Pasta, Chinese sausage and pasta salad and a lot of German and American dishes. It was really interesting and exciting and I can imagine that I will try some of the recipes either with my host kids or at back home.”
“International potluck was a fantastic idea to bring different cultures together in a really simple way! All the dishes were very interesting and tasty! I was already familiar with German food and 
I really enjoyed it! Steamed bread was new to me, as well as Chinese sausage. This was also the first time I was introduced to pop rocks and it was really cool! Overall, I think that international potluck was one of the best ideas to bring au pairs together.”
-Patrycja, Poland
“I loved the potluck! I loved the variety of dishes we could try and I thought I was really interesting that some meals that come from different countries are actually similar to some meals I know. For example, the dessert that Danielle made (Melktert, South Africa), it reminded me a lot of a dessert my grandma used to make. So, I think that’s really cool! All in all I think it was a really cool idea for a cluster meeting and I totally enjoyed it!”
“I really like the Chinese sausages and the dish Patrycja brought (Kielbasa and penne pasta). 
The Chinese sweet treats were a real surprise and taste different than I would have expected. The German food reminded me a lot about food back home since we have a lot of the same dishes.”
“I really enjoyed the potluck! I think that it was a really great and different way to learn about everyone’s culture! And especially Danielle’s dish (melktert) was sooo awesome!”
