Peace Poles donated by the Norwich Rotary Clubs displaying the different cultures within the community stand tall in Brown Park at the Norwich Harbor, creating a perfect setting to celebrate the cultural diversity within the City of Norwich and surrounding communities.

Each year The Norwich Rotary Club, The Norwich Sunrise Rotary Club and The Rotary Community Corps along with The Norwich Bulletin, and thanks to our many sponsors, put together a series of multicultural events to celebrate the various cultures, talents, foods and traditions in our diverse community.

In 2013, the Lottie B. Scott Diversity Award was established to “recognize the achievements of an individual who has enhanced our interactions and our community.” Tonight’s 7th Annual Award was given to Zechariah Stover for his on going support, enthusiasm, leadership and countless volunteer hours within our community. Well deserved!

The Annual Norwich Rotary Community Diversity Award is also presented each year to “an organization that has a significant effect on diversity in the Norwich Rotary Service Area; encourage and promote activities that brings members of diverse cultures and expose the community to those activities for further cultural awareness and education.” This year the 4th Annual Award was presented to Otis Library.

The annual event is packed with entertainment from African drumming and dancing, to blue grass music to Tribal, Peruvian and Chinese dancers, belly dancers, accordion player, puppets, etc.  There was turban tying, rock painting  and the list goes on.  Truly something for everyone to enjoy!

The food was provided by local restaurants, churches and vendors. Tickets were $10 per person or $30 per family which paid for your entry into the food area where you could sample over 15 foods, beverages and desserts.

When I was asked to be a food judge I thought “What do I know about the different ethnic foods?” Despite my lack of knowledge I agreed to the challenge and immediately summoned my friend Aaron to accompany me. I consider Aaron to have a lot knowledge on different cultures and ethnic foods and thought he would be the perfect person to bring along.  In fact, they needed an additional judge so I volunteered Aaron. Isn’t that how it works?

Aaron and I arrived at 5:15 as requested,  We were handed a clipboard with score sheets and a pen then sent off to begin tasting. Where do we start?

I’m not going to lie, I saw a partial list of the foods that were being offered and was not overly excited to try Olde Tymes Restaurant’s fried catfish which happened to be the first booth we came upon. When I first saw it I thought to myself, “It doesn’t look like catfish.” (I’m not sure what I thought catfish would look like.) It looked just like the fish you would get when ordering Fish & Chips in a restaurant. What was I thinking?  Tartar sauce and a spicy bayou sauce was available for those that wanted to add extra flavor to the fish. I was ready to give it a try. The first bite I had was with the tartar sauce.  I liked it!  Hey Mikey!   It was crunchy, flavorful and not greasy!  Next I tried it with with the bayou sauce. Now that was delicious! Who knew I would like fried catfish?

We continued to sample foods like “Mac Attack” from Uncle D’s Blazin BBQ which was Grandma Jessie’s Mac & Cheese topped with Smoked Pulled Pork and a Jerk BBQ sauce.  It was fabulous and lucky for me the next booth was Craftsman Cliff Roasters who was offering fresh lemonade and a 30 year old sun tea recipe which he combined to make an Arnold Palmer for me.  It was refreshing and cooled my palate from the heat of the jerk sauce.

Ready for more we headed over to Café Otis where I had my first taste of Falafel, ground chick peas with cilantro and parsley.  Philly’s sampled amazing buffalo wings cooked to perfection with just the right amount of heat and Royal Punjabi cooked up Vegetarian Biryani, also with just a touch of heat!  I expected it to be on fire!  Hungry Joe’s Food Truck, new to the area, offered over stuffed chicken & cheese quesadillas.  I wanted more!  Hungry Joe’s serves lunch daily at Brown Park and now that I know that I will be stopping by for lunch in the park one day!

Let’s not forget the desserts!  NAACP made cute little sweet potato party puffs that tasted just like pumpkin pie. Robersine Duncan Youth Council made sweet potato cornbread that melted in your mouth!  So good!  I had my first cake pop ever…a chocolate raspberry cake pop from The Chocolate Rose Bake Shop. I was surprised by the consistency…it was very moist and not like cake; more like fudge.  Pops Ice Cream was serving several flavors, such as, Pumpkin Gingersnap, Caramel Apple Crumb and Cookie Kaboom yet I chose plain ol’ vanilla which was very creamy!

Did I mention Lazizah Bakery’s baklava?  Also a first for me!  I tasted the Turkish one first then the Lebanese one which was my favorite until Aaron told me he was given a piece of the private stash hidden under the table – chocolate coconut.  I rushed back to the booth and before I could even ask for a piece Bassem was calling Aaron a snitch!  It was mouthwatering delicious!  Thanks Aaron!

Last but not least I headed over to J&R’s Lemonade yet when I got to the window she had just handed out her last sample.  “No worries,” she said and right in front of me began making another batch of freshly squeezed  pomegranate lemonade just for me. It was worth the wait!

And the winner is….Uncle D’s Blazing BBQ!

A big shout out to the other five food judges, Jill Fritzsche, Founder 66, Cathy Chester, CHRO & Cultural Diversity Committee Member, Florenzia, Rotary Interact Foreign Exchange Student, Carrie Szymanski, Putnam Bank & Cultural Diversity Committee Member and Aaron Hughes, Community Supporter and Volunteer.

Since the food judging took the majority of my time I was unable to experience some of the dancers and other activities going on.  You can find additional information and pictures on the Brown Memorial Park Facebook page from others who attended the event.

Also, be sure to like the Celebrate Cultural Diversity Facebook Page to stay up to date on more local events.