Once a year, the World Association of Girl Scouts encourages Scouts to participate in World Thinking Day, which celebrates the cultures of troops around the world. The Port Washington Girl Scouts took their community for a trip around the world on Sunday, Feb. 28, with the second annual International Tasting Bee.
Troops got together to transform the Polish American Hall into a multicultural experience for its troop members as well as family and friends. The Girl Scouts also invited seniors from the Port Washington Senior Center and Hadley House.
Twelve troops were in attendance ranging in level from Daisy to Seniors. Each troop represented a different country and used pictures, decorations, crafts, costumes and fun facts to share information about their country. Each table had bite-sized food samples for the guests to enjoy. For their table, each troop researched their country using Internet sites, cookbooks and family recipes.
In Japan, the crowd sampled sushi, gyoza and edamame, and in Cuba empanadas and rice and beans were served. England offered tea and Cadbury chocolates; China had fried rice, dumplings and fortune cookies while Belgium provided waffles and chocolates. Guests also tasted white and dark chocolate dips from France and guacamole and seven-layer dip from Mexico. Ireland served Irish soda bread donated by Sullivan’s Quay and Greece had lemon chicken soup and Greek butter cookies. Other countries represented include Kazakhstan, Italy and Germany.
Chairperson Linda Nutter said they had a good turnout with more than 300 Girl Scouts and guests passing through the event. She hopes that the girls take away the valuable cultural lessons about troops from around the world and enjoyed the feeling of sisterhood of Girl Scouts that was felt in the room.
