12 June 2014 – International Medical University (IMU) BSc (Hons) Nutrition students together with BSc (Hons) Dietetics with Nutrition students of the 2013 intakes organised a “Food Culture Day” at the Atrium of the IMU’s campus in Bukit Jalil. Various activities were organised for the day with educational posters, food tasting and cultural performances to give the students a chance to showcase their efforts and presentations. Commenting on the event, IMU the NT1/13 batch representative, Lee Juen Jiat said, “From the event, I gained more knowledge about the cultures of different countries that I didn’t know before. We learnt about the etiquette and food habits of different countries and how food habits can affect ones nutritional and health status. It is very interesting and fun to carry out the Food Culture Day.” I also improved my communication skills, relationship with peers and teamwork to complete our presentation, decoration, information and food preparation.” “When we present to lecturers and students in IMU, we are actually improving our communication skills and English. We separated our presentation to different parts so that we can complete the task faster and more efficiently. We helped out each other during the process, and learnt the importance of teamwork. A difficult task cannot be accomplished by one person, but can done by teamwork and patience. Although throughout the preparation there are some hardships, we manage to overcome it and achieved what we want. Food Culture Day not only allows the students to improve their knowledge, some soft skills and show their creativity but it also allows the IMU lecturers and students to know more about the other country food culture. We learnt how to manage our budget which is sponsored by IMU, it help us to improve our skill on managing our money.” 
“Food Culture Day is a very interesting and informative event. We got the chance to wear different country traditional clothing, understand the culture of many countries and gain experience and soft skills throughout the event. It is a very memorable and fun event. Although it is quite tiring, but we enjoyed it.”
“For the Food Culture Day, we get to dress up and present food of different country’s cultures to share knowledge and food with other people. People can learn about a certain country’s food and culture instantly. It is a fun thing to do as people learn best when they are having fun. Though it may be tiring and stressful to prepare everything for the particular day, it is worth it because all the hard work eventually pays off. Teamwork is really important in making this happen. Proper planning is also very important when it comes to events like these,” said Heidi Young Chi Cheng, another BSc (Hons) Nutrition student in IMU.
“Food Culture Day is an event that helps build our communication skills. This event makes us use our creativity to present information in the simplest and most attractive way possible. Moreover, this event helped foster a better bond among students from other programmes. When we work together, we know each other’s strength and weaknesses; thus we help each other in completing tasks. This further strengthens our problem solving skills when things do not go as planned. I think this is a great event to foster learning in a fun way,”
Her course mate, Loh Hui Sin, said, “I also learnt that teamwork in a group is very important to make a group project work out. Everyone was really busy with their own work and reports but each of them willing to spend out their lunch break to discuss and prepare for the decorations that will be present on the food culture day itself. I was really amazed by how everyone work together. Other than that, through this project, I get to know and become closer to my course mates. The project allows me to mix around with more people and learn to communicate better with people. In conclusion, this project has empowered myself and I believe what I had learnt in this project will be beneficial for my future career and studies.”
