Organized by Bates College senior Mikey Pasek and junior Megan Murphy together with the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce and the Lyceum Gallery, the event has the theme, “One Night, One Community: Students, Downtown Make it a Date.”

Pasek said the event is intended to strengthen long-term social and economic ties between the colleges and the towns. “We want college students in these two cities to get better acquainted with them and learn more about the array of excellent entertainment they offer, including dining and arts,” Pasek said. Murphy noted that organizers hope it will become a twice-a-year event, once in the fall and again in the spring.

Between 5 and 8:30 p.m., students from Bates, Lewiston-Auburn College of the University of Southern Maine, Kaplan University and Central Maine Community College will have access to menu discounts at an array of downtown restaurants, as well as beer and wine tastings for those of legal drinking age. Discounts will be extended to college students presenting a current valid ID card from their institution. There will also be 30 free musical and dance performances in six venues.

Lewiston Mayor Robert E. Macdonald is scheduled to speak at the event at 8:20 p.m. in Lewiston’s Downtown Courtyard on Lisbon Street.

Festivities will conclude at 8:30 p.m. with a concert in the Downtown Courtyard featuring three of Bates’ a cappella groups — The Crosstones, the Deansmen and the Merrimanders — as well as other campus musical groups.

See complete details at bates.edu/nightintown/ and at the “Night in Town” Facebook page.

Inquiries may be directed to mpasek@bates.edu or cmorrison@androscoggincounty.com.

Happy diners think globally and eat locally at the 2012 International Dinner, held March 3 in the Gray Athletic Building. Photograph by Simone Schriger '14.

The annual International Dinner, held this year on March 3, was a feast for all the senses.

On one wall, a display of flags from around the world transformed the plain interior of the of the Gray Athletic Building. Brightly patterned traditional garb popped out in the crowd.

Amidst the murmur of happy diners, special dance performances and a playlist of international music set the festive atmosphere. And an intriguing combination of spices and scents made it impossible to forget the main attraction: the food.

This year the menu featured an impressive array of 44 dishes from nearly 30 countries. There were the familiar and delicious — two types of spring rolls from Vietnam, chicken enchiladas from Mexico and crepes from France — as well as the distinctive and delicious: chin chin, a fried donut-like snack from Nigeria and Ghana; saltibarsciai, cold beetroot soup from Lithuania with an unforgettable magenta color; and gajar ka haluwa, an Indian dish made with carrots and milk.

At the dinner, food becomes a common ground to explore, learn and celebrate the diversity in the Bates community. More than 350 people took part — students, professors, staff and local residents.

In short, “Food is a wonderful way of sharing your culture,” said Shlesma Chhetri ’12, of Kathmandu, Nepal, and co-president of the International Club, which sponsored the event.

Thailand’s red curry is a good example of the cross-cultural exchange. Over the centuries, Thai cuisine has been influenced by South Asian, Chinese and European cooking — and the fiery red chilies that give the curry its color came originally from Central America, brought to Thailand by Portuguese explorers.

But ultimately none of that matters. What does matter is the delicious explosion of flavors that immerses you in a dimension of Thai culture, sparking appreciation, interest and dialogue.

The dining is only half the story. The task of cooking food for 350 people, combined with limited equipment and space and difficult-to-locate spices, was an epic in and of itself. As Chhetri explains, “For the cooks and helpers, it is like an adventure.”

Shared pots, pans and all seven kitchens on campus, American and international classmates started cooking the night before and even made a special trip to Portland for ingredients.

For International Club co-president Hieu Nguyen ’13 of Hanoi, Vietnam, the dinner is what sparked his involvement in the club: His freshman year he made Vietnamese spring rolls and lotus soup.

Since then, Nguyen has remained committed to the club because of its “open and friendly environment and the beauty of diversity.” The ambiance and popularity of the International Dinner certainly bear that out.

– By Izzy McKean ’12

Flags of the world hang in New Commons on United Nations Day. Photograph by Rene Minnis.

Christine Schwartz, director of Bates College Dining Services, offers the menu for United Nations Day at the college. The special lunch kicks off “Open to the World: Bates Celebrates Unbounded Learning,” a week of events celebrating the dedication of Roger Williams Hall and Hedge Hall, two historic buildings renovated in 2011 as modern academic centers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Flags of the world hang in New Commons on United Nations Day. Photograph by Rene Minnis.

Christine Schwartz, director of Bates College Dining Services, offers the menu for United Nations Day at the college.

The special lunch kicks off “Open to the World: Bates Celebrates Unbounded Learning,” a week of events celebrating the dedication of Roger Williams Hall and Hedge Hall, two historic buildings renovated in 2011 as modern academic centers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dining Services director Christine Schwartz said that her chefs continue to increase culinary diversity as they revamp the menus, with Cajun and Cuban cuisines among those seeing more emphasis. But fear not, comfort food addicts: “Many old favorites — mashed potatoes, meatloaf, turkey — are still there,” even if the mac and cheese now comes in a newly spicy version.

Starting this fall, brunch replaces breakfast and lunch on Saturdays. “That’s consistent with what’s been happening industry-wide for a long time,” Schwartz said. With Saturday breakfasts drawing only about 200 diners, “it made more sense for sense for us to go to a brunch and dinner concept on Saturdays,” as has long been the case on Sundays.

Schwartz also checks in with local farms and vendors that provide food to Bates, such as Cold Spring Farm, a provider of grass-fed beef owned by two Bates alums. Sometimes there are surprises. “We just found out that a farm we’d contracted with to provide blueberries lost their crop in the rains from Tropical Storm Irene,” she says.

If the academic year is the turnpike for Schwartz and her team, this week is the on-ramp. Dining Services’ largest customer count during the summer, Schwartz said, was around 450, “and we’re about to amp that right up to 1,700.”

Her team will serve up 600 a day through Thursday, probably 900 on Friday, and by Sunday, as upperclassmen show up en masse, service will be close to the max at 1,500 to 1,600.

There are other ways to view the difference between summer and the academic year. “We might spend $15,000 or $20,000 a week on food in the summer — that would be on the high side,” Schwartz explained. Typically, there are two large deliveries a week.

“During the academic year, we’re getting three or four trucks a week and spending $50,000-plus.” Of a total staff of around 98, about a third take the midsummer weeks off, working Aug. 15 to June 15.

Classes will be held unless specifically canceled by the instructor. Students should check e-mail and Lyceum to determine if individual classes have been canceled.

Classes will be held unless specifically canceled by the instructor. Students should check e-mail and Lyceum to determine if individual classes have been canceled. Any weather-related updates will be posted on this website.

Bates Dining Services cook John Caron (foreground) and chef Freddie Jonathan Bitsoie, an authority on Native American cuisines, make an orange sauce for cheesecake. Pinenut-crusted salmon and pumpkin bread pudding were also on the menu as Bitsoie visited in August to work with kitchen staff from Bates and Bowdoin.

A collaboration between Dining Services and Multicultural Affairs, Bitsoie’s program was designed to increase representation of Native American culture on campus. (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, and Maine’s Indian tribes are working together to draw more Native American students into college.)

A member of the Navajo Nation, Bitsoie parlayed a college anthropology major into food-service training. Now he combines history, anthropological research, and standard culinary practice in his work — the goal being to honor ancient foodways while adapting them to the modern kitchen. It’s as much about communal stories as ingredients or techniques, he says. “Through those stories we’re taught how to respect food, how to respect culture, and preserve our way of life — meaning anyone from any background.” Bitsoie directs the French and Native American Program at the Classic Cooking Academy in Scottsdale, Ariz. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen.