One recipe is not a whole country
For our class celebration, students were invited to bring a story about a family tradition. Food was one possible topic, but nobody had to bring a dish. A drawing, a recipe card or a short description was enough. The teacher wanted all students to take part without spending money. Mila brought a card about the apple pie her family makes in autumn. Another student, Denis, described a soup that his uncle cooks on winter weekends. Both students explained who taught them the recipe. Neither claimed that every family in their country ate the same food in the same way. At one table, visitors compared two similar recipes. One included dried fruit, while the other did not. The hosts explained that ingredients can change because of taste, availability or family habits. They also displayed ingredient lists so that visitors could make informed choices. Nobody was asked to taste anything. We also prepared a small listening corner for people who preferred a quieter conversation. Two students recorded short interviews with relatives. The interviews were played through headphones, and written versions were placed beside them. One speaker described a game she had played as a child. Another remembered making paper decorations with a neighbour. These stories showed that a tradition can be an ordinary repeated activity, not only a large annual holiday. Before the event, our group discussed how to introduce each recording. We used phrases such as 'In this family' and 'The speaker remembers'. We avoided saying that all people in a country behaved in the same way. A visitor could disagree with a description without being told that their own family was unusual. This careful language did not make the exhibition less lively. It gave people more room to add their own experience and notice both similarities and differences. The celebration worked because people were curious rather than competitive. We did not choose a winning tradition. Instead, each visitor wrote one thing they had learned and another question they wanted to ask. Small personal stories made the room interesting without pretending to represent everyone.