Last Thursday CGE team united efforts with ART for Life e.V. and organised a fascinating event with a cultural banquet and entertaining board games.
Since last summer, CGE Erfurt e.V. frequently hosts Game Nights: every third Thursday of the month we open the office space for public to explore new board games, challenge ourselves and our friends and, of course, just spend time with the community.
Unfortunately, our games always run parallel to another cultural event – Dinner der Kulturen (a.k.a. Dinner of Cultures), organised by ART for Life e.V. in the community center in Herrenberg. Their gathering aimed to bring together people from all walks of life and from different cultural backgrounds to talk to each other over a home-made meal. The guests would usually prepare some traditional specialties at home and bring it to the community center to share with everyone. CGE knew of such activity for a long time and constantly wanted to join. Following the proposal of our volunteers, we contacted ART for Life team and settled on a deal – combine cultural food exchange and gaming experience for one night to bring two communities together!
On February 21st at 19:00, the usual time for Dinner of Cultures to begin, the hall of community center was uncomfortably empty. Well-organised tables and chairs were vacant, the glasses and cutlery untouched and – Mario, Stefan and Marina – the organisers puzzled. The thought of having insufficient amount of invitations sent was creeping into their minds. However, the preparations continued.
By 19:30 the situation started to change dramatically. First guest arrived! Then more people showed up: CGE volunteers, the friends of volunteers, the friends of the friends etc.
Somehow by 20:00 the hall became filled with guests and the tables – with delicious dishes of various cultures.
And so we started our livestream 📹
The “Game Night goes Dinner of Cultures” event was opened by Marina Bykova, project coordinator of CGE. She welcomed everyone and invited the guests to introduce the dishes, which they brought. One after another the cooks took the stage to share the history of their food, some even kept a mystery about what is inside the dish, making it even more interesting to try the unknown snack.
Interested what specialties were there? Among the delicates we can name are:
👉🏼 Chili Sin Carne by cooked by Mario,
👉🏼 Tortilla española by Ana,
👉🏼 Russian salad a.k.a. “Herring Under a Fur Coat” by Marina,
👉🏼 Portuguese Gizzards by Duarte,
👉🏼 Italian Pasta (various sorts) by Daniele,
👉🏼 Belarusian Kisel’ by Ulyana,
👉🏼 Balkan snacks from Bojana and Jovana and, of course,
👉🏼 Banana Muffins, Carrot Cake and many other sweets for dessert.
And you can see how fast they were consumed 😉
After a filling dinner and a chat or two, the guests organised themselves around the tables and enjoyed the rest of the evening playing board games.
CGE Erfurt e.V. would like to say thank you to all guests, who came to join us on that lovely evening. We promise to carry on the tradition and have more activities for the Erfurt communities!
Check out our Facebook page to stay updated about the upcoming events!
