The Queens Night Market in New York City is an event that takes place every Saturday from 6pm until midnight. The international food festival draws a large crowd of people from all around the city to celebrate different cultures and foods. There are over 40 vendors currently participating in the market, with regular new additions, offering everything from Korean fried chicken to chimney cakes. 

  After arriving at the market, visitors will be met with dozens of tents and hundreds of people all milling through the venue. Almost as if assured that this late at night no one will question each other’s eating habits, attendees are more than welcome to eat dessert before dinner, or for some, no dinner at all and just dessert. 

  However, visiting several tents to share the international dishes as a group is the most popular way to go. With the most expensive dishes being only ten dollars, it is easy to try multiple foods. This is convenient because it will likely be hard to choose one dish out of the many options available. 

  To name just a few of the vendors and the countries they represent, there is Burmese Bites, Nansense with Afghan food, Sholay with Indian, La Braza with Brazilian, The Original Pastel de Nata from Portugal, and Joon with Persian.

  Chinese teacher Mrs. Cheng encourages her students to try foods from around the world, saying, “It’s important for our students to try as many things from around the world as possible since it helps them better understand other cultures.” Students taking Chinese are constantly exposed not only to the Chinese language, but also culture as they are in many ways intertwined. In Chinese culture, as well as many other Asian cultures, food is an essential and intimate part of everyday life.

  While Raleigh clearly does not have the same food options as those in New York, there are still a variety of places throughout the city where there are plenty of international food options. Downtown Raleigh has its fair share of international food festivals, food truck rallies, and unknown hole-in-the-walls. A good place to start would be places like Morgan Street or Transfer Co. Food Halls, which allow customers to share a meal without necessarily eating the same things.There are also events such as the International Festival of Raleigh, which this year will be held from November 13th to 14th. There are also many food truck rallies that take place throughout the year, such as the Midtown Magazine Food Truck Rodeo which will be held Sunday, November 7 on Fayetteville Street. Events such as these, as well as others, present opportunities to better understand one’s community at large. Experiences that present individuals with things they are not familiar with allows them to be better prepared for the world surrounding them.