GREENFIELD — It was around midnight in Spain, but that didn’t stop 16-year-old Aiala Orio’s “abuela” from spending two hours on a video call with her granddaughter last week, talking her through how to make a traditional Spanish omelet.
Aiala was among the eight foreign exchange students who were honored at the World Language Cookoff at Greenfield-Central High School on Thursday when more than 75 foreign language students — as well as the exchange students — shared dishes based on cuisine from around the world.
While the exchange students brought traditional dishes from their homeland, the language students brought dishes based on the languages they each study at the high school — Spanish, German or French.
Spanish teacher Sonja Jaggers started the worldwide cuisine event over 25 years ago and looks forward to it each year.
“It gets all the students together and they get to try recipes from their community and delve deeper into their culture,” she said.
A panel of judges consisting of teachers and administrators taste all the dishes and award winners, who each receive $10 gift cards from local businesses.
Thursday’s smorgasbord included everything from tacos to tres leche cake. Judges made their way from dish to dish, sampling pierogis, croquetas and sauerkraut and brats.
Aiala said it was fun to spend two hours on a video call with her grandmother, making a dish that reminds her of home.
Annika Fisher — a 16-year-old exchange student from Germany who is staying with the same host family as Aiala — made kaiscschmarrn, an Austrian pancake dish her family typically enjoys after skiing in the winter.
“It’s interesting to see other people’s traditions,” she said at the cookoff, as the school cafeteria was filled with aromas from around the world.
Before the food was served on Thursday, each exchange student stood before their country’s flag to honor their heritage. The flags and pictures of each student will be hung on a wall outside the school library, where they’ll remain throughout the year.
Jaggers said the exchange students do a great job of teaching local students about other cultures.
“Our students learn all kinds of things from them, from their traditions to the way they talk, especially their slang,” she said.
The longtime Spanish teacher said learning a foreign language — which is optional for Indiana highschoolers — is a great way for students to learn about other cultures and to become more culturally diverse.
“It’s a great way for them to open themselves up to the world,” she said.
