Food from around the globe tempts hundreds

The International Food Festival gave a visiting student her first taste of Omani cuisine.

Hundreds of hungry people queued up in anticipation for the Otago University Students’ Association International Food Festival yesterday.

Culinary delights from from around the world including Africa, India and Taiwan were on offer at Tūhura Otago Museum Reserve as O-Week wrapped up.

American exchange student Linnea McCaa opted for an Omani dish called Arsiya, which is a chicken and rice blend with various spices cooked in ghee.

Miss McCaa had never had Arsiya before and thought the festival was a good opportunity to try something new.

"I feel like it's always fun to try food that I've never had before or even heard of so yeah, it's a great opportunity for sure."

She gave the dish an eight out of 10.

"It's kind of nice, lightly spiced, like a bit of chicken-y flavour."

People were having a hard time deciding what they wanted to eat from 18 different food stalls at the festival with dishes priced under $10.

A savory lamb pancake called okonomiyaki from Japan could be followed by pisang coklat, a deep-fried banana wrapped in pastry from Indonesia.