Armed with their recipes and raw ingredients, the students started the preparation of the food mid-afternoon in the restaurant’s spacious kitchens and by early evening several tables in the restaurant were covered with a wide variety of savoury and sweet dishes, including many vegetarian options. During the laying of the tables, several country representatives entertained the guests with short presentations of their home countries, including details of national cuisines.

Having tasted the diverse culinary creations of their fellow international students, participants were invited to vote for their favourite dish. In first place were the joint India-Pakistan team (Bakhtawar Zafar, Maryam Siddiqa, Momin Khan, Ayush Verma, Ahmedyar Kiyani, Ameer Osama Khan, Zubair-ul-Haq, Daiana Mirza, Vera Obrozokha) whose dishes included Chicken Korma, Tofu Curry, Pakode and Cheesy Mushrooms. Runners-up were The Middle East regional team of chefs (Sewar ALKhatib, Malek BM, Samah N Salman, Luzan Rawashdeh, Heba F Zaher) whose winning creation was Horaq Alasbao – a dish of lentils with pasta of Syrian origin. In third place was the team of cooks from Mexico  (Maria José Castaneda, Rebeca Cruz, Andrea Aguirre ) who produced a platter of Burritos de discada.

After the voting, the University’s Hungarian folk dance ensemble performed several dances for the assembled international students. The leader of the ensemble then invited them to participate in a “Táncház” (lit. Dance House) in which novices are taught a series of dance steps. Following the leader’s instructions and demonstrations, the international students were soon performing the sequences with confidence and enthusiasm.