When starting college, many students have to move away from the place they’ve called home. This can be a short hour drive, or involve moving across state lines or around the world.
About 10% of Pepperdine’s student body is made up of international students from over 80 different countries, according to the university’s website. Many international students said they naturally miss their friends and family, but they also miss the cuisine of their home country.
“I am a big food eater, and I feel the real lack of that soul food out here,” junior Jason Alius-Piedade said. “Every time I’m home, it feels very nostalgic to be back home and eating proper food.”
Mediterranean Cuisine
Alius-Piedade said he was born in England and raised in Dubai, but his nationality is Italian. In his opinion, the United States lacks the amount of seasoning he is used to in Dubai. Some dishes will use 30 different types of spices for one piece of chicken.
“I think what they do a lot more in Mediterranean dishes specifically, is they really heavily season their things,” Alius-Piedade said. “I really do sense that difference in taste.”
On his Italian side, Alius-Piedade said he has not been able to find a proper carbonara pasta in the United States. He has been able to find a similar dish, but nothing compares to what he is looking for.
“I think the closest thing you guys have out here is vodka pasta, but it doesn’t hit the same,” Alius-Piedade said.
Growing up in Dubai, Alius-Piedade said he is very particular about his Mediterranean foods. Some of his favorite dishes include tabbouleh salad, chicken shish tawook, beef fokhara and hummus with pita bread.
“The hummus with the pita bread that they have out there is very specific and super smooth and creamy that you guys just can’t recreate out here,” Alius-Piedade said.
In Dubai, it is customary to eat between the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., Alius-Piedade said. While this may seem late, it allows food to serve as a center for community building.
“Dubai restaurants are open 24/7,” Alius-Piedade said. “We’ll go with a group of friends and all be laughing all night long, just with close friends sharing secrets.”
Alius-Piedade said these moments are similar to times when someone is sitting around a fire pit with friends staying up late, sharing food and making memories surrounded by a sense of warmth.
“When I eat that food, I get a taste of those intimate moments with my friends back then in the middle of the night,” Alius-Piedade said. “It really does harbor a deeper sense when I eat that food because of that connection.”
Bolivian Food
This sentiment of sharing connections through food was common among most international students. Senior Fabian Saucedo said he misses the intimate moments he had with his family while they shared a meal.
“I feel like Latin cultures are very collectivist,” Saucedo said. “It’s just the waking up and having family there.”
Saucedo is from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and said the food he misses most from home are salteñas. These are pastries with a doughy exterior, filled with a chicken or beef soup inside. Saucedo compared this dish to a pot pie.
“We had it almost every Saturday back home,” Saucedo said. “It was something we always had during the weekends with my family or if you’re with friends in the morning.”
Salteñas are a perfect meal for the morning after a night out, Saucedo said. This heavy meal was ideal when he would get back late and sleep until noon.
One of the aspects that makes salteñas so unique is how accessible they are. Saucedo said they can be sold for $1 in practically every store in Bolivia.
“If you’re craving it, you just go and buy it,” Saucedo said. “It’s something everyone craves all the time. I feel like people bond over that craving.”
Saucedo said one of his favorite memories associated with salteñas was at his going away party before college.
“I remember my send-away party before college, I decided to do it at brunch time,” Saucedo said. “I just got everyone salteñas and I took a video of me having the last five.”
West African Dishes
While Saucedo saved one of his last meals in Bolivia for his favorite food, other international students go above and beyond for their native dishes. Sophomore Chloe Mawuenyega cherishes food from her home so much, she brings it with her to school.
“I quite literally freeze food from back home and bring it here every single semester to last me as long as they can,” Mawuenyega said.
Mawuenyega is from Accra, Ghana in West Africa. She said one of her favorite dishes is jollof rice, which she was already down to her last pack of two months into the Fall 2024 semester.
“I’m actually mourning it, because I don’t know how I’m going to survive without it,” Mawuenyega said. “I think that Ghanaian food is some of the best West African food.”
Another dish Mawuenyega said she enjoys is waakye, a rice and bean dish. Although it is a pretty heavy meal, Mawuenyega said it is ideal to have on Saturday mornings. She also loves groundnut soup and omo tuo.
“It’s just rice that’s been molded into a bowl that you have with soup, which is like a peanut butter soup,” Mawuenyega said. “You can use peanuts or groundnuts [to make it], which is really good.”
Similar to Saucedo, Mawuenyega said she is often reminded of her family when thinking about her favorite foods. Food brought her family together for a shared meal.
“A lot of them reminded me of sitting at the dining table with my family, which is why I love them so much,” Mawuenyega said.
A specific memory that sticks out for Mawuenyega is something she refers to as “Tabletop Tuesdays.” Growing up, Mawuenyega said her mother would have someone help her make food in the kitchen before they all sat down together. The dishes could vary from Ghanaian delicacies to heavier meals.
“We would all help her, and then we would sit down and discuss important topics,” Mawuenyega said. “I’m just very grateful, because I feel like my mom was able to expose me to so many of my cultural dishes.”
Mawuenyega said she hasn’t cooked many of these dishes on her own but said she wants to start learning. Although she is across the world, food helps home feel a little closer.
“I’m still trying to learn how to make cultural dishes,” Mawuenyega said. “I don’t want it to be something that dies out with me, because I want to stay close to home.”
International students said some places in the States will try to replicate these authentic meals, but most of them just aren’t the same. Each student said they miss the physical meals from home, but they truly miss the community this food brought to their life, whether that was with friends or family.
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