Japanese Language Students and Local Japanese Community Come Together for International Food Day

The International Food Day was the final event of the Asian Food Series, which involved collaboration among three faculty members and two disciplines: Eileen Scully, who teaches in the Society, Culture, and Thought discipline, and Ginger Lin and Ikuko Yoshida, both who teach Language and Culture. The event welcomed about 30 participants—including students and local residents—for an afternoon of cooking, conversation, and cultural exchange. All were welcome to participate. 

The event exemplifies the strengths of Bennington’s Cultural Studies and Languages program, where students don’t just learn a language—they use it to explore ideas, connect across cultures, and create meaningful work. From the first day of class, students engage in discussion, storytelling, and collaborative projects that foster both linguistic fluency and cultural understanding. Small seminars and interdisciplinary coursework allow students to bring in perspectives from other fields and real-world experiences, including study abroad and Field Work Term, which enriches classroom learning with lived context.

Each spring, after first-year Japanese students have had a year of Japanese and have the skills they need to communicate, Yoshida hosts an event where local Japanese people and her students collaborate and embrace each other’s willingness to learn from one another. This term, the three faculty members received a grant from Student Life and the College, which allowed them to host a larger event.

“There aren’t that many Japanese students on campus or many Japanese people in the local area, so students don’t get many opportunities to practice what they learn outside the classroom,” said Yoshida. 

The program also benefits the local Japanese community, many of whom do not know each other. 

“We didn’t know that there were this many Japanese people living locally,” said Maple, a high school student who attended with her family. “We are happy to be here.”

"Japanese people living locally often find that members of the general public may be unaware of others' nationalities. We are often categorized as ‘Asian people.’ However, each Asian country has distinct cultural diversity and unique cultural resources," said Yoshida. “The Japanese people are grateful that members of the Bennington College community are interested in learning their culture. It is about building community, as much as it is about language practice.”

For international students from Japan, the event was an opportunity to loop them in with the greater community, to introduce them to more Japanese language and culture students, and to local Japanese people in the community. 

At the heart of the program was the collaborative preparation of “Vermont Curry,” a dish made with a savory sauce including apples and honey. Students and guests chopped onions, peeled potatoes, and stirred steaming pots together while exchanging phrases in Japanese.

“We are here together cooking curry and having an immersive experience,” said Bennington student Mariana Suarez Torres ’27. “It is a way for us students to know how much we have learned.”

Along with cooking, attendees played a tongue-twister game and an epic rock-paper-scissors tournament while the curry cooked and had a chance to build relationships across cultural and generational lines. Especially during the games and after, there were a lot of smiles and companionable laughter as members of the group chatted easily in Japanese, showed each other photos on their phones, and enjoyed each other’s company. 

“It’s about connecting to the community,” said Bennington student Eliana Carr ’26. “And it gives us a chance to practice Japanese in a meaningful way.”