A TASTE OF THE WORLD
Whitney Pier Melting Pot Multicultural Festival underway
Whitney Pier Melting Pot Multicultural Festival underway.
Cultures from around the world are being celebrated this week as the fifth annual Whitney Pier Melting Pot Multicultural Festival gets underway.
The event, which started Monday, and has been drawing crowds since the start of the festival. On Tuesday, dozens of people lined up at the Royal Canadian Legion in Whitney Pier to have a taste of Mexican dishes.
Cape Bretoners were thrilled to get a chance to indulge in foods that Canadians don’t often have a chance to try. “You don’t always realize how much diversity a smaller place like Cape Breton has. Something like this kind of highlights it, where you can actually experience different backgrounds, different meals and different cultures,” said Theresa Odo, from New Waterford, who was of many who lined up to have a Cape Breton-cooked Mexican meal.
The meal on Tuesday also reminded people that the event brings people together.
“This is so inclusive, everybody’s welcome and there’s lots of different cultures to try, so somebody’s who has never had a certain type of food, it’s a really great way to come down and try something,” said Lenore Parsley.
One of the organizers, Alan Nathanson said food is one of the most powerful ways to bring people together.
“Food represents cultures and in our multicultural society. There’s a desire to try and bring the cultures together, because each culture seems to exist onto itself,” said Nathanson. “By trying different things each year with the multicultural festival, we really bring things together for everyone.”
Emily Odo said she liked that the festival brought together people from different cultures.
“You get to see all of the different cultures here, I like that, and that’s what I like about travelling, you get to see all of the different things instead of what you see in a normal dayto-day basis,” said Odo.
All meals are $12 and the festival will continue until Friday.