Junior Samuel Everardo Lopez Rosas spent his early years in Mexico, where he shared a room with his siblings, attended a school centered around an open courtyard and recalls streets bustling with cars and buses.

What stood out most, however, were the vibrant traditions—colorful pottery, flavorful food — that he hoped to showcase at Murray High School’s cultural night.

“I wanted to represent my culture, and I wanted my mom to have this experience too,” said Lopez Rosas, a student in the Spanish dual language bridge program and a school band alto saxophonist. “This is cool seeing all the other cultures and being able to try their foods, learn of their cooking methods, traditions and practices and see the dances and performances afterward.”

The event offered attendees tastes from around the world, with food samples representing countries including Sweden, Egypt, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, Tonga, Norway, Liberia, Brazil and more. Cultural displays and decorations lined the commons, followed by live performances celebrating global traditions.

Among those introducing different cuisines was Mica Adams, originally from Paraguay; she is the spouse of Murray High Spanish teacher Keaton Adams.

“Paraguay is a really small country so I find people don’t know much about it,” she said. “It is hot all year and even so, people like to be outdoors. We share more with our family and neighbors, but the technology is behind in schools. Here, we do everything online, there is more paper and pens.”

Adams introduced guests to mbeju, a traditional dish she prepared using tapioca flour, Gouda cheese, milk, butter, salt and water.

“I tell students it’s like a cheesy pancake. I thought with the food, they can learn a little bit more, and I have a video, so maybe that will make them curious to visit or learn more about Paraguay,” she said.

Not far from her booth, senior Yasmine Danne represented her Cameroonian heritage.

“Both my parents are from Cameroon and I've been raised with the culture,” she said. “There’s a huge difference between here and there. For example, the roads, the way people drive, in Cameroon, there's no stoplights, everyone's just driving on sort of a path. It also rains a lot, just pours, I'm talking waterfalls coming from the sky. It’s not mountainous; it’s flat — and there are cows, chickens and dogs running around.”

Danne and her mother prepared the traditional dish, puff puffs.

“Food from my country is complicated; it takes hours. With these puff puffs, we had to make the dough, have it rise and it’s a full day,” she said. “People tend to judge our food because it doesn't look like everyone else's food, but I want people to learn our food, because it is different and more diverse from a lot of countries. Everyone here is trying the food and are being respectful and that’s important when learning about other countries’ cultures.”

The Murray community sampled several countries’ cuisines, including Brazilian as seen here, during the school’s cultural night. (Julie Slama/City Journals)