By Giselle Lee | Staff Writer

Students who ventured to Penland Dining Hall on Thursday afternoon were greeted with red lanterns and red envelopes filled with spices in celebration of the upcoming Lunar New Year.

Celebrity Chef Nikky Phinyawatana served noodles in a hearty curry bowl to eager students at the Passport section of the dining hall.

Dallas freshman Sam D’agostino attended after seeing posters and emails of dumplings. He said the chefs explained the symbolism behind each element of the meal to students.

“There was a purpose to every food in the dish,” D’agostino said. “I learned that the noodles symbolized longevity, and the chicken symbolized strength, which I thought was really interesting.”

Sayyid Muhammad, the executive chef at Penland Dining, said that being intentional with the food helped tell the story of the festive occasion.

“We want to engage in festivities with good food to celebrate and ring in the new year,” Muhammad said. “The colors are red and yellow, so in the bakery, we had red cupcakes with yellow sprinkles and vice versa, to incorporate a sense of inclusion around the dining room.”

Phinyawatana said she was grateful to be invited to celebrate the Lunar New Year with Baylor students and shared how fulfilling it was to “feed souls through food, culture and travel.” As lines wrapped around the dining hall, Phinyawatana noted that food acts as a bridge in fostering cultural understanding.

“I find that food really connects people,” Phinyawatana said. “When you travel, you can really understand the culture through food. To get to come into an environment where it’s a little bit different, instead of pizza, pasta and burgers, but you get to try something new, and it opens their creative minds.”

For Houston freshman Andres Cardenas, the impact food has in cultivating diversity goes beyond one’s taste palette.

“Learning more about different people’s foods is a great way to learn about culture, because who doesn’t like food?” Cardenas said.

Aside from the food, tables from the Korean Students Association, Designs with Jamie and the Chinese Language Department provided students with information on cultural traditions, which included Chinese history, lion dancing and red envelope making.

Peoria, Ill., senior Elsah Luan taught students how to do Chinese calligraphy at the Chinese Language Department table. She said the constant flow of students is a testament to Baylor’s willingness to learn something new.

“People are just so interested in different cultures, and it’s really cool to see that curiosity come to life when you explain to them something cool that they haven’t heard before,” Luan said. “Getting exposed to new things is such a cool experience. I would say that people are super brave to try to write Chinese when they’ve never tried it before.”

Chattanooga, Tenn., freshman Max Fuller said without events such as these, one would not be able to get a diverse outlook on other people’s cultures.

“It’s a unique perspective compared to what we see in America because you’re usually raised around your family,” Fuller said. “It helps you develop new views and not be as critical of other cultures than you were previously.”