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Dalhousie Dentistry students, including Jessica Barron (left) dish out the goods at International Foods Day

It’s not uncommon to see “cook-offs” in the lobby of the Dentistry Building. Students and faculty members regularly don their chef hats to share pancakes, chilli, and a variety of comfort foods as part of charity or grad class fundraisers.

A new twist on this trend was held on Monday, November 23, as dentistry students shared culinary delicacies from 10 different nations at the inaugural International Foods Day. Seventy plates were sold in under half an hour, so anyone who arrived even a few minutes late walked away with hunger pangs.

The event raised $350 for Sharing Smiles Day, an upcoming student-organised event to be held in April 2016 with the goal of helping provide positive opportunities for interactions between people with special needs and the dental community. Sharing Smiles Day is an annual event promoted by Oral Health, Total Heath, a federal non-profit organisation.

Fourth year student Jessica Baron, one of the co-ordinators of International Foods Day and president of the Dalhousie Dental Students’ Society, explains that for the last couple of years, the society has been looking to hold events that include and involve more students. “We wanted events that were more social and less party,” she says. “We also wanted ways to include families and faculty and staff from both dentistry and dental hygiene.”

Her classmate, Omer Mallhi – originally from Pakistan – suggested an event based on international food and took it upon himself to approach potential chefs for the event individually.

The result was dishes from Iran, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Syria, Nigeria, Iraq, Egypt, and Barron’s native Newfoundland.

Customers were lined up and waiting before the food started to be served. Those who made and served their dishes watched the food rapidly disappear – with none left for them. “None of us brought lunch,” says Mallhi. “We had to go buy our lunches afterwards.”

Thanks to the resounding success of International Foods Day, another event is already being planned – potentially in April 2016 when new international students arrive to begin the Faculty of Dentistry’s Doctor of Dental Surgery Qualifying Program for foreign-trained dentists. “It would be welcoming for them,” says Mallhi, who began the Qualifying Program in 2014. “It should be held at a time when they are enthusiastic about integrating.”