Hispanic Heritage Month

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) was dedicated to the Hispanic Heritage Month observed in the USA.

We started the conversation with the discussion on the background of this observance. The focus of this year’s session was on the introduction of the Tex-Mex cuisine to the club members.

Tex-Mex (from Texan and Mexican) is a term describing a fusion of American cuisine and Mexican cuisine, deriving from the culinary creations of Tejanos. It has spread from border states such as Texas and those in the Southwestern United States to the rest of the country. Tex-Mex is most popular in the state of Texas.

Tex-Mex cuisine is characterized by its heavy use of shredded cheese, meat (particularly beef and pork), beans, and spices, in addition to Mexican-style tortillas.

The group has watched illustrative videos that introduced the typical Tex-Mex dishes like tacos, burritos and chili con carne. A lot of new terminology was introduced through the videos. The popular US fast food chain Taco Bell and its food and equipment technology was presented.

Number of participants – 16 persons.

Have a look at more pictures, please

Culture of Texas

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was planned as “Knowledge and Science” session. So we started it with the conversation about the importance of the date September, 1 for the Ukrainian society. The Club members explained to Ms. Jackie the Ukrainian school tradition of beginning the academic year with a big celebration – The First School Bell ceremony.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the Culture of Texas. Our American guest Ms. Jackie decided to have an introduction into Tex-Mex cuisine. She was kind enough to cook an assortment of Tex-Mex snacks and organized a food tasting for the big group of Club members present at the session. She managed to find corn chips and taco shells in the Ukrainian supermarket and a local substitute for hot sauce. The club members were impressed with the new flavors and some of them noted down the recipes.At the end of the session each club member told the group about his way to celebrate the Independence Day of Ukraine. The stories described picnics in the woods, patriotic tours to Cossack village, “vyshyvanka” parade, pizza in national colors preparation (with yellow bell pepper and bluish herring filet), fireworks on the city’s waterfront, etc.
The session was attended by a big number of newcomers and regular patrons and turned out to be very enjoyable for all participants.
Number of participants – 31.
Have a look at more pictures, please