By Caroline Boden
The Council for Cultural Activities hopes to make their largest annual event Cultural Taste of Houston a new tradition at the university. After hosting it for their third year on Aug. 29 in Lynn Eusan Park, this event marks one of the days during the Weeks of Welcome.
Almost 20 local cultural restaurants from all over the greater Houston area were in attendance on campus to showcase items on their menu. This student-run and student-led event also featured pop-up shops from seven vendors and live cultural performances.
“We want to make it a tradition at the university,” said Council for Cultural Activities Director Eduardo Abrams. “Something we have been pushing a lot this year is– how can we make Cultural Taste of Houston a tradition? We want to show [the students] that this is something new we want to bring to the university and this is something that the city brings to us.”
For many of the restaurants, this was their first time attending and serving at the event. Ella Mae’s Soul Food took this opportunity to advertise their restaurant’s new location on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. They plated pulled pork and oxtail tacos, catfish on a stick and vegan meatballs for students to sample.
“We love to serve our people,” said restaurant owner Trammell Hall. “We love this event…They invited us because they heard through word-of-mouth about our food. It’s actually been very beneficial.”
Freshmen Jackie Aviles and Vanessa Calzada said this was their first time attending the Cultural Taste of Houston.
“This event was really nice,” Aviles said. “We got to chat with different people, try food from different cultures and the pop up shops were nice too. We bought necklaces from [vendor] Thunder Village.”
The Council for Cultural Activities began their planning for this event back in May. Abrams said that since the beginning, this event was not easy to plan, but it has been rewarding yet complicated.
“In the first month [of planning], it took me time to realize – how do you manage your goals and what are your expectations,” Abrams said. “At the same time – are you trying to be an overachiever or are you underselling your event? Having that equilibrium because you want to have something really good, but you have to be realistic. And that was something at the beginning for me was kind of difficult because as the director, you want everything.”
According to FOX Business, the university is ranked as the one of the most diverse campuses in the country. The Council for Cultural Activities and their advisor Michael Crook wanted to accommodate the different cultures and reached out to over 100 restaurants and vendors across the city.
“I like to describe [this event] as a University of Houston tradition that is representative of the very diverse student body we have,” Crook said. “All of the students that come to campus come from different backgrounds, ethnicities and nationalities. We bring a lot of those flavors of Houston from around the city to campus for people to taste.”
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