I was recently at the Intercultural Learning and Living Center’s (ILLC) Lunar New Year celebration for a delicious dinner catered by the Golden Bowl. The event began with the catered dinner, mingling between students from the ASA, ILLC, and the rest of the student body. Many of the students who were there came for the free, delicious dinner and did not bother to stick around for planned events such as the lion dancing, the table displays of how each Asian country celebrates the new year, or even the fun raffle towards the end of the event. All of these cultural aspects were essentially overtaken by the thought of food.
Not only did I see this at Bryn Mawr’s event, but also at Swarthmore’s Taiwanese Students Association. The event started with some mingling with Swarthmore students, and then there was dinner from a delicious local Chinese restaurant. The major component and title of the event was dumpling-making, so naturally, there were also dumpling-making stations throughout the event room, but they were rarely touched by the majority of the 30 to 40 students who attended. However, I did notice a pattern I saw at the ILLC event: Most were there for the free catered food.
Don’t get me wrong, I love free food. Bryn Mawr dining halls are not always the greatest. It’s understandable to want to avoid New Dorm or Erdman because they are serving vegan chicken nuggets for the 50th time this academic year. However, most of the time when we see this delicious free food, it is at events for professors’ talks, enrichment, or AMOs. There seems to be a common thread: come for the free food and leave.
As an AMO E-Board member who is actively planning a spring gala, it is frustrating to see people just come for food and leave for events that cater. Swarthmore’s Taiwanese Students Association, the ILLC, and many other groups in the Bi-Co and Tri-Co put an immense amount of effort into planning and running events for student and faculty enjoyment, just to have their work diminished to the food that is being served at the event.
When we only look for the free food, we miss out on the experience to enrich ourselves with knowledge from a talk, learn about a new major, or experience another culture. In addition, we disrespect the hosts of the event who put in a lot of work to make the event possible, but do not enjoy the work. Free food is great, but the events that happen here in the Bi-Co and Tri-Co are also amazing. So, be mindful next time you hit up an event with free food around the campus.
