Dining Hall Serves Latino Dinner With Cuban Food
Paterson Dining Hall hosted a semester Latino Dinner featuring food from Cuba, Puerto Rico and Bolivia, plus a Kahoot trivia game with prizes.
Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Hispanic
Paterson Dining Hall held its semester Latino Dinner on a Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., serving food from Cuba, Puerto Rico and Bolivia. Students also played a Kahoot trivia game about the three countries and won prizes.
Why it matters
The dinner, jointly run by campus dining services and the Latino Resource Center, shows how a student-created event has become a recurring semester tradition. Its rotating country lineup gives students in Paterson a regular way to sample Latin American cuisine and culture.
The dinner ran four hours, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and featured three countries: Cuba, Puerto Rico and Bolivia. Trivia ran in three rounds with nine total winners, and attendance figures were not reported.
The players
Paterson Dining Hall
The campus dining venue that hosts the Latino Dinner and serves students on a regular basis.
Latino Resource Center
A campus office that co-runs the Latino Dinner with dining services and organized a field trip to Chicago.
The details
Dishes served included arroz con gandules, yucca frita, shredded beans, flour tortillas and orange rice. Prizes for the Kahoot game included notebooks, keychains, pencil cases and wireless headphones.
Timeline
2017: The Latino Dinner was created as an internship project by Elbia Del Llano.
Wednesday, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. (November 2026): Latino Dinner held at Paterson Dining Hall.
Culture Shift
The Latino Dinner grew from a once-a-year collaboration into a semester tradition after rising student interest, with a different set of countries featured each time since its 2017 start as an internship project. The rotating format reflects a broader campus move toward recurring cultural programming tied to student demand.
Students in Paterson can attend the Latino Dinner each semester to sample Latin American dishes at no reported cost. The rotating country lineup means each semester's dinner offers a different set of foods to try.
The takeaway
Recurring cultural events built around student interest can grow into lasting traditions. Students curious about Latin American food can watch for future semester dinners with new country lineups.
Further reading
Explore more Hispanic culture coverage to see how Latin American traditions are celebrated across the region.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Northern Star.
