As any traveller knows, international food can often be a culinary minefield: understanding what the right dish is for you ultimately becomes a case of trial and error.

Tackling this common problem, the Jesmond Methodist Church unusually became a gathering site for food lovers on Saturday May 17^th to experiences the wonders of international cuisine.

People in the church community from all across the world shared their most beloved cuisines and food culture.

Mila from Mauritius made ‘Gateau Pemtents’ (Mauritian chilli cakes), one of the most popular street foods of the region. She explained the food culture in Mauritius is a mixture of Asian and African food inherited through different migrations in history.

Also on offer was ‘borscht’, medovick cake, fruit drink ‘kissel’, and ’kompot’. These Russian dishes, dating back to the 16^th and 17^th century, were by necessity in people’s diets at the time extremely simple and unvaried. Because of the tradition of fasting the meals were lean for half the year. Fruits were commonly used for dessert preparation since there was not much sugar at that time, according to the Russian couple serving the food.

Elie Cahill, who organised this event for Jesmond Community Festival, prepared pumpkin pie, which is widely regarded as the official pudding of choice for Thanksgiving in the United States.  American food can be considered much like Britain’s, but with a big increase in portion sizes!

Many other food varieties were displayed: Vietnamese Pho Bo soup, Champ from Northern Ireland and Sushi in HongKong.

For many, the free international food tasting was a novel idea to experience the food culture. The taste of nations is expected to be repeated at next year’s Jesmond Community Festival, many food tasters have told JesmondLocal.