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The Michigan Daily I michigandailycom I Thursday, October 27, 2011
weekend
essentials
Oct. 27 to 30
ON STAGE
Whether you be goblin
or ghoul, werewolf or
wizard, classical music
is an absolute must for
any and all Halloween
festivities. Luckily, the
School of MT&D's
University Orchestra
plans on haunting
Hill Auditorium for
an evening of popular
melodies and creepy
classical music, all the
while dressed in its
costumed best. Perfor-
mances will be Sunday
at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
CONCERT
Don't let the band's
East Lansing origins
deter you - rock group
The Verve Pipe returns
to The Ark tomorrow at
8 p.m. The band broke
up after '90s success
with singles like "The
Freshman," but its
recently reunited mem-
bers will bring family-
friendly tunes and its
more traditional com
plex arrangements to
Main Street for a night
of real Michigan music.
Tickets from $25.
'U' international students
take a bite of Ann Arbor's
multicultural cuisine
By Veronica Menaldi, Daily Arts Writer
hen some students at the
University get a hint of
homesickness, they can
e ly drive an hour or
so on I-75 and find them-
selves in the warm embrace of their former home
- usually complete with home-cooked meals.
But for students hailing from other countries,
skipping out to their childhood house for the
weekend isn't an option - after all, they'd have
to board a plane for hours and fly over an ocean
or two. Fortunately, Ann Arbor has the next best
thing: meals that closely resemble hometown
dishes of Central America, Europe and beyond.
LSA senior Amie Hsu said food is a common
topic for the Conversation Circle she leads. The
Conversation Circles Program was started by the
International Institute at the University as an
opportunity for international students to prac-
tice their English skills with native speakers, and
Hsu has found that potlucks are often the best
wayto break the ice.
"Food is one aspect of culture," she said. "I
think it's somethingthatremindsthem of home."
Hsu said international food establishments
in America don't have quite the same foods that
could be found in the country of a food's origin,
but these state-side alternatives are beneficial for
students who find themselves as fish out of water
when they first set foot on campus.
Judy Dyer, English Language Institute Lec-
turer, agreed that food is an important link.
Since she has lived abroad for a number of
years, Dyer understands the importance of the
little things that remind her of home. When she
taught in China, one of those things was awarm
cup of coffee. In the rare moment she was able
to acquire a cup of instant coffee - not quite the
same as the real thing, but close enough - she
was pleased.
This is analogous to an international student's
situation. Though the foods in Ann Arbor may
not be exactly the same as they are back home,
they're similar enough to where most interna-
tional students would be able to appreciate them.
"It's an important component of that feeling of
security, feeling of familiarity and finding a piece
of home where you are making your home for the
next few years," Dyer said.
A home away from home
Architecture and Urban Planning student Ash-
wini Kamath was born and raised in India and
came to Ann Arbor in 2008.
She said if she goes out to eat, one in three times
it's at an Indian restaurant. And if she's doing the
cooking, 95 percent of the time it involves Indian
food like curry, rice and bread.
Indian food typically consists of Indian spices,
herbs, vegetables and fruits. Kamath finds most
of these ingredients from international Indian
markets like OM Market on Plymouth Road and
Bombay Grocers on Packard Street.
She said her most frequent purchases were dal
(a type of lentils), egg curry and vegetables like
bhindi (okra), potatoes and cauliflower.
Engineering graduate student Hatim Bukhari,
an international student who came here from
Saudi Arabia in 2006, also said he did a lot of
home cooking.
He described typical Saudi Arabian food to
be some type of meat combined with some kind
of rice and certain spices, and condiments like
cumin. .:
Bukhari buys some of his necessary ingredi-
ents at Arabic markets - there's one located on
North Campus called Jerusalem International
Market. A few of the things he buys in such mar-
kets are tahini sauce, sumac, fava beans and dif-
ferent types of rice.
Typically, Bukhari prefers to cook at home
rather than dine out.
"I feel like it's better," he said. "I'm not saying
I'm a good cook, but the thing is, in restaurants
you're not going to find exactly what you want.
You'll find something similar, so that's why I pre-
fer to cook."
An example of this is stir-fried liver. Though
Bukhari thinks the meal turns out decent in
restaurants, when he makes it himself, Bukhari
knows it'll turn outjust the way he prefers.
Of course, not all connoisseurs of international
cuisine were necessarily raised in foreign coun-
tries. LSA senior Alaina Moreno-Koehler grew up
in the suburbs of Flint like many in-state students.
But thanks to her father and grandparents back
in Puerto Rico, she has enjoyed a great deal of
See GLOBAL FOOD, Page 4B
FILM
To all you sweet trans-
vestites anxiously
awaiting the weekend
for the chance to once
again break out your
Frank-N-Furter or your
Riff Raff, the State
Theater has heard your
pleas and is giving you
not one, but two nights
of the cult classic that
makes us all want to
do the time warp ...
again. "The Rocky Hor-
ror Picture Show" will
play tomorrow and
Saturday at 11:59 p.m.
AT THE MIC
Ann Arbor has a repu-
tation as a hotbed for
visiting musicians.
Tomorrow, the sounds
of some of the fin-
est jazz around will
be heard in the Cady
Room of the Stearns
building as The Jeff
Hamilton Trio - head-
ed by the renowned
percussionist, who has
accompanied musical
legends like Ray Brown
and Ella Fitzgerald -
will perform at 2:30
p.m. Tickets are free.
PHOTOS BY ANNA SCHULTE AND ALDEN REISS
DESIGN BY BRIAN MARGOSIAN