Every year, the Living Traditions Festival offers up a taste of Salt Lake City that comes from all over the globe.
Vendors from 20 different cultural groups will be selling food at this year's festival, which takes place Friday through Sunday at the Salt Lake City-County Building, 450 S. 200 East.
Many people come to the festival just for the food, said Casey Jarman, festival director. He acknowledged that manning a food booth takes a lot of effort — food handler and city permits, health department-approved cooking facilities and hours of cooking and selling.
"But that money goes back to their own community," he said. "And a lot of the groups like to do it to have a presence."
New this year are foods from Jinub Sudan and the Utah Tibetan Association.
Jinub Sudan is a group of 10 Sudanese women who are refugees from the civil war in their home country. The women arrived in the United States several years ago, found jobs as housekeepers, postal workers and child-care workers. Some are single mothers trying to support several children.
Aluel Majok, a leader of the group, said the group prepared Sudanese specialties at the Farmer's Market last year and will be there again this season.
"We wanted to come to this festival because we need money for the group," she said.
One of the women, Ajak Akut, owned a restaurant in Sudan and has given her input on recipes and cooking techniques. Their goal is to start a Sudanese restaurant, but in the meantime they are catering private parties and events.
Majok said their menu includes chicken sheia (a savory chicken stew with vegetables and cinnamon, served on rice) and spinach and couscous (a vegan dish).
Since the Tibetan Resettlement Project began in Salt Lake City in 1990, nearly 160 Tibetans have made Utah their home.
The Utah Tibetan Association is a way to stay in touch and preserve their native culture and values, according to Khando Chazotsang, the group's president.
Tibetan dancers perform every year at the festival, and the money earned in the food booth will help finance them, said Chazotsang.
"We have never been able to change costumes, and we are very excited because I ordered some new costumes this year," she said. "We will raise a little money for the association and give some to the cooks as well."
Among their menu items is spiced potatoes, little chunks of boiled potatoes flavored with onions and spices and served with rice. They are also serving pot stickers (soft, thin pastry shells stuffed with seasoned beef or chicken), vegetarian noodles, fried rice and Tibetan fried bread (similar to Native American fried bread).
The Utah Basque Club has participated in the Living Traditions Festival since it began 19 years ago, said Mary Gaztambide. Nearly all of the 150 members carry out different tasks — cooking, selling, setup and cleanup. It's a lot of effort, she said, but everyone is happy to help.
"We do it to raise awareness of our culture, and part of the money goes to our dance group that performs for different churches and at Basque festivals throughout the Western United States. The dancers have also participated at Living Traditions since we've been selling food."
The Basques come from the Pyrenees Mountains area in northern Spain and southern France. Acquainting the public with their food and culture was a hard sell at first.
"A lot of people don't have any idea where we come from," Gaztambide said. "We had a time trying to indoctrinate people as to our food. But now they've come to recognize what we're selling, and we don't have to yell and stomp and give out free samples. Before, some people would even turn down the free samples. It's not that the food is outrageous or hot, it's just that people aren't used to Basque food."
They are serving chorizos (a mild-seasoned pork sausage in a bun), Basque steak sandwich (batter-fried steak with pimientos) and churros (sweet fried pastry).
"At this point, a lot of people connect the Basques with being terrorists," Gaztambide said. "We've gotten a bad rap with the Madrid bombing, and we are trying to do away with that image. We are a peace-loving people."
If you go ...
What: Living Traditions Festival
Where: Salt Lake City-County Building, 450 S. 200 East
When: Friday, 5-10 p.m.; Saturday, noon-10 p.m.; Sunday, noon-7 p.m.
How much: Admission free; food items priced individually
Phone: 596-5000
E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com