Photo by: Jon Painter
They didn’t ride a magic carpet, but on Nov. 12, 16 excited students and faculty of Ottawa University’s Whole Earth Club piled into school vans to visit the Aladdin Café in downtown Lawrence.
The Aladdin Café is a Greek-Mediterranean restaurant buffet and hookah bar. Located on the bustling Massachusetts Street, the Aladdin Café offered a delicious buffet of rice pudding, beef gyro, humus, Mediterranean jambalaya, pita bread and chicken curry. Naturally there was Greek salad and falafel (a deep-fried ball of ground fava beans and chickpeas).
“I thought the food was very rich and tasty,” said Kiarah Thomas, president of the Whole Earth Club. She described her favorite dish as a combination of the beef gyros, hummus and freshly made pita bread together as a sandwich.
The calm and warming Mediterranean atmosphere offered a welcome respite from the cold prevailing Kansas winds while giving students the chance to taste different foods for the first time.
With the financial backing of the Ottawa University Student Senate, the Whole Earth Club was inspired to make the trip with the desire to experience different foods.
The purpose of the Whole Earth Club is to give students an opportunity to experience as many cultural backgrounds as possible. This past October, the Whole Earth Club sponsored a weekend trip to the Kansas City Japan Festival.
If you’re interested in joining the Whole Earth Club, get in contact with current president Kiarah Thomas.