We recently enjoyed the great honor of hosting eighteen children from Uganda, who represent the African Children’s Choir, plus their eight chaperones and four fellows from the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young Leaders. Not only was the evening a blast, we dished up allergy savvy food that was gobbled up by everyone. The best part: the lack of dairy, egg, soy, peanut, tree nuts or gluten (with one hot dog bun exception) was never detected. The food was devoured and it was a great night. We served roasted vegetables, quinoa Greek Salad, a Persian Rice Dish made with basmati rice, lentils, raisins, and spices, plus the all American Hot Dog (the only gluten/allergen served) and Enjoy Life Foods inspired dirt cups (tomorrow’s post will have recipe details).
If you know me, it is a fact that I live for hugs. This group was like Christmas on steroids for me! They jumped off the bus with 18 hugs ready and waiting. Then there were more hugs while playing, eating, after dinner and during goodbyes. I could not have been any happier. The children were precious and come from challenging backgrounds. Each child has lost one or both parents to famine, disease or war and must audition to join this choir. Their US journey is ten months long as they wind their way through our country singing and traveling on a bus.
The children are performing at Artown in Reno, NV, which is a month-long event packed full of music, art, dance, film, cultural events, theater, and even workshops! A large majority of the events are free to the public, so everyone gets to enjoy. There was a last minute need for a host and we were thrilled to be invited to host this beautiful group of children who took the game of Freeze dance to a new level. My son’s pals Zoe and Chris came by to help play-freeze dance hit new levels of creativity, hubby’s parents also helped with cooking and my dad donated book lights for goody bags so the kids could read on the bus at night-it was a family affair! The children had manners that left all of us scratching our heads as to why we’ve dropped those kinds of good manners in this country. They asked permission before they played or touched anything, they did not speak with their mouths full of food, they did not interrupt and would ask permission to pass if they were walking through a conversation and they said thank you endlessly. You could not help but fall in love with them.
One of the biggest hits of the evening were Dirt cups ala Enjoy Life Foods Brownie Mix, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips and Double Chocolate Chip Crunchy Cookies, plus Surf Sweet gummy worms (Sour and Original)! It took some coaxing to convince a few kids that we were not serving them dirt or plants. Once they realized the cups were sweet, the smiles emerged! The only food allergic in the group was one of the bus drivers who was allergic to peanuts. He was thrilled to learn that all of the food was safe for him too. Enjoy Life Foods had sent me a box of samples with the dirt cup recipe last spring and I finally tested it out last night on the kids in the summer. Better late than never, right? Tomorrow’s post will feature photos and how-to details!
The moral of our story is that special events can be safe, tasty and fun for everyone – regardless of allergens, cultural backgrounds or cost (yes, the meal was quite affordable to prepare).
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