Taste of Culture
Take a walk downtown for lunch and step into another world
Taste of Culture is an afternoon event that teaches about Roanoke's incredible diversity. The events are sponsored by the City of Roanoke as well. Each month one country will celebrate their culture with food and entertainment. The Taste of Culture will be held in downtown Roanoke's Century Plaza, located on Church Avenue across from Fire Station #1 and behind Center in the Square. The Sister Cities Columns are located in Century Plaza along with the tables, chairs and a stage, all of which were added to draw in the afternoon lunch crowd of downtown Roanoke.
Admission is free and students are encouraged to attend.
The event is held rain or shine.
In the event of rain, Taste of Culture will move to:
Suntrust Bank
10 Franklin Road
Red & Green Room
The Roanoke Plice Department will have an information booth for those interested in local law enforcement.
Visit Taste of Culture in Century Plaza for your lunch, and you'll be glad you made the trip to a new community
Upcoming Taste of Culture events
- Taste of Culture, Latin
- August 8, 2008
11:30 am to 1:30 pm- Green Chile and Chicken Enchilada casserole, Rice Apostelado (rice with pork meat), arepas (Colombian corn bread), rice with vegetables, and Latin Slaw.
- Mexican and Colombian cookies, tropical drinks, and maybe Cuban Churros (donuts)
- Ecuadoran, Honduran, and Mexican crafts and other ethnic items
- Ecuadoran musicians, latin american guitarists, music on CD’s
- Games: Pin the Tail on the Country, Loteria, a piñata, your name in Spanish
- Taste of Culture, Korea
- September 12, 2008
- Taste of Culture, Scandinavia
- October 10, 2008
Past Taste of Culture events
- July 2008
- Taste of Culture, Haiti
Musicians Mohundas and Rudy showcased upbeat drumming
Marie’s Caribbean Café served up delicious authentic Haitian dishes at a very reasonable price. - June 2008
- Taste of Culture, China
Roanoke Valley Sister City Lijiang, China presents:
Dragon Dance, Tai Chi, sword dance, fan dance, Chinese music, calligraphy, art and culture, Chinese minority clothing for sale.
Food catered by Fiji Island - November 2007
- Taste of Culture, America
Food provided by Blues BBQ.
Entertainment by:- Singer Randall Gilbert
- Hip hop/graffiti artist Leonard Straub
- Flatpicker and singer Cheryl Lunsford
- The Rumbo Drum Corp
- Singers Randolph Walker & Britt Mistele.
- October 2007
- Taste of Culture, Scandanavia
Featuring Sweden & Norway
See videos of the event
in Roanoke.com (Roanoke Times)
in Roanoke VA Guide
Musical entertainment, video plus traditional foods and activities such as:- Lutefisk (dried, salted cod served in cream sauce)
- Våfflor (waffles)
- Gula Ärtor
- Viking displays and demonstrations
- Swedish Christmas ornaments for sale
- September 2007
- Taste of Culture, Korea
Musical entertainment plus traditional foods such as:- Bulgogi (korean bbq beef)
- Mando (dumplings withmeat and vegetables)
- Kim Chi (spicy pickled vegetables)
- Rice
- August 2007
- Taste of Culture, Latino
Featuring Puerto Rico, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, and Venezuela
Musical entertainment plus traditional foods such as:- Alcapurrias (yuca stuffed with meat)
- Papa rellenos (stuffed potato balls)
- Pinchos (chicken or pork on a stick)
- Yellow Rice
- Caribbean wrap (shrimp with mango salsa in tortilla wrap)
- Coquitos (frozen desert)
- Smoothies (banana, strawberry, pina colada, peach, mango)
-
July 2007
- Taste of Culture, Caribbean
Featuring Haiti and Jamaica
See videos of the event
Taste of Culture, Caribbean
Musical entertainment plus traditional foods such as:- Griyo (fried pork)
- Bannan'n fri (fried platain)
- Patat fri (fried sweet potato)
- Diri cole (rice and beans)
- Diri ak djon-djon (rice with mushroom)
- So'ce poi rouge (red bean soup)
- Poul fri (fried chicken)
- Poule nan so'ce ak nwa (chicken/cashew stew)
- November 2006
- Taste of Culture, Scandinavia
- October 2006
- Taste of Culture, Cuban
- September 2006
- Taste of Culture, Haiti
- August 2006
- Taste of Culture, India