On September 17th, Southwestern University held the annual  Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month (HLHM) celebration in the Bishop’s Lounge. This celebration consisted of a series of tables, each representing a different Hispanic or Latin country with its respective cultural foods and/or drinks. Southwestern University is actually a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), meaning that over 25% of our school’s undergraduate population identifies as Hispanic. This also means that Southwestern places great importance on celebrating this student population, allowing us to mark the beginning of our HLHM events and celebrations throughout the month. 

To break down some of these terms, Hispanic refers to Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain and most of the Latin American countries. Latin countries are those that reside in Latin America and the Caribbean, including countries like Brazil and French Guiana among many others; it also excludes Spain from the Latine community. Latin countries have been referred to as Latino, Latinx, and now Latine throughout the last few decades. Because Spanish is a strictly gendered language, the community has renamed itself to be gender inclusive while also having Spanish pronunciation (Latinx is phonetically impossible in Spanish), landing us with the term Latine. The distinction between Latine and Hispanic is important to understanding the cultural context of each community. 

At each table in the celebration, at least one country’s flag and information was posted along with the food they decided to share. An even mixture of sweet and savory foods were served throughout the entire event, along with sodas and juices. The first table, El Salvador, provided chile limon plantain chips and Kolashampan, a popular soda. Brazil followed, featuring pan con queso (bread with cheese). Colombia and Nicaragua both brought their famous coffees, Honduras brought Hojaldradas cookies, and Peru brought Inca Kola, a light yellow cola soda. Mexico was a popular table, with elote, Jumex juice, and various pastries. Guatemala showcased pineapple soda and some Donitas chips, while Puerto Rico gave a taste of home-made arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), small frosted cookies, and Malta India, a carbonated malt beverage.

The most popular countries of the entire event included Chile, which served sopapillas de queso (fried pastry with cheese filling), and Cuba, providing empanadas de carne (meat empanadas). Belize had fruit juice and Argentina had canned yerba mate, their cultural tea. Towards the end, Panama and Ecuador had some salty chips, ranging from plantain to yuca, Venezuela had some savory fried dough with a cheese filling, and Costa Rica had small Chiky cookie sandwiches. Only three countries included in the celebration did not have food to share: Uruguay, Bolivia, and Paraguay. There were a few smaller countries, such as French Guiana and Saint-Martin, that are a part of Latin America and therefore Latine but were not included in the celebration. 

The event was a great way to bring students together and share culture with each other. Students were able to taste foods they had never even heard of before while stepping outside of their comfort zones to take part in their classmates’ heritage and culture. This is not the end of the university’s Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month events! Don’t forget to join in on the Spanish Film Festival every Thursday from 4:00-6:00 pm until October 9th. SU will also be playing host to several different lotería (lottery) events, hosted by LatinosUnidos, Captain’s Academy, and others. Join in on the fun and celebrate your heritage!