University YMCA · 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign, IL 61820
Visit universityymca.orgFor a century the University YMCA has fed the world at one table. Its International Banquet, first held on May 2, 1925, brought students from abroad and their American hosts together each year until 1950. In 1984 a festival dinner in Latzer Hall, cooked by the students themselves, began the International Dinner and Performance Night that the Y has held, with the Cosmopolitan Club and the University's international student office, nearly every year since. The 40th sold out in 2025.
In the spring of 1925 the Y's Friendly Relations committee, which looked after the students who came to Illinois from abroad, announced an International Banquet for May 2 at the Wesley Foundation. It was "to become an annual affair," and its purpose was plain: "Promotion of international understanding and good will is the primary purpose of this banquet."1 Hannah counts 300 students from 29 nations at that first dinner, where Prof. E. D. Soper told them, "This university is a great laboratory of international politics."23 It was one of two new programs of 1924–25, with calls on foreign students in their rooming houses.4
The banquet grew out of the Y's work with international students, which began in earnest when it hired C. D. Hayes in 1918 (see the history of the International Student Program), and out of a campus tradition of dinners for students from abroad: the Cosmopolitan Club had held its third annual banquet in the YMCA café in 1910.5
The dinner has gone by many names: the International Banquet in its first years, the International Friendship Dinner by the 1940s, an evening of International Dinner and Performances in 1986, and since 1989 the International Dinner and Performance Night.1678 This history calls it the International Dinner throughout.
For 25 years the banquet followed one pattern. Each American student who received an invitation was asked to bring a foreign student as his guest.9 A speaker on world affairs, most often from the world YMCA and YWCA movement, an embassy or the Chicago press, gave the address, and the foreign students answered with greetings from their countries, which by the 1940s had become a "roll call of the nations."101112 Students served as toastmasters, and there was music: in 1932 a piano solo, a whistling act and a xylophone, and the evening closed with everyone singing "Hail to the Orange."13
The banquet moved with the Y. It was held at the Wesley Foundation through 1934 and at the McKinley Foundation in 1935–36. In 1937–38 it was put off "until we get into our new building," and in May 1938 it came to Latzer Hall, where it stayed.14151617 Through 1931 it was a men's event, which "has always been stag," the Y said when students asked why; from 1936 the YMCA and YWCA held it together, with a man and a woman as co-chairs.181920 In 1928 the committee moved the dinner from spring to December so that its "good results" could be put to work during the school year, so that year had two; the board called the December banquet "the most successful occasion of all the International Dinners we have held."2122
The dinners ran from about 130 guests in 1934 to some 250 in 1930 and 1949, and "nearly 300 students, faculty and friends" in 1945.14231224 The war did not stop them. In 1942 students of 26 nations still came; in 1943 a speaker told them, "The guns of this war will grow cold eventually and then comes your task and mine"; and in 1946 model planes carried the flags of the students' countries.202511 In 1949, "of the 47 nations represented on campus, 24 answered the roll call of nations with a native greeting."12
The last numbered banquet, the 26th, was held on March 2, 1950, with a speaker from the YMCA of Brazil.26 The numbers were never kept carefully. The Daily Illini counted from 1925 until 1931 and then ran one ahead, and the 1949 banquet was printed as the 24th, between the 25th and the 26th; the Y's own Y's Indian counted as if the first banquet had been in 1924.131227
After 1950 the yearly banquet gave way to something more frequent. From the fall of 1948 the YMCA and YWCA International Supper Club met every other Sunday in Latzer Hall, each night given by one country's students, who cooked the meal.28 Under John W. Price, who directed the Y's International Student Program from 1950 to 1968, the suppers drew about 200 people each.29 Price said they were "completely organized by the international students."30 A YMCA–YWCA international dinner with an Indian embassy speaker was still held in April 1952, with Price as toastmaster, and from 1958 into the 1960s the Y held an international dinner during the Illini Union's December International Week.3132
In the 1970s the Cosmopolitan Club carried the custom. It held an international dinner every Thursday evening at its house at 307 E. John, cooked by students of many countries and open to the public.33 When the Y revived its international work in 1977, it added dinners of its own: by 1982 there were dinners given with a single student association, such as a Turkish dinner of food, music and dancing that March.3435
The dinner the Y holds today began with a festival. In 1983 the University's International Fair broke down in quarrels over which groups could take part, and the University told the Y to build something "totally new and far removed from the fair concept."36 The Y and the McKinley Foundation held an International Festival from March 25 to April 1, 1984, with about 25 student associations.3738 Its planners ended the week with an International Dinner in Latzer Hall, where the groups would "provide dishes for an evening of culturally diverse food, drink, and entertainment."39 The dinner, on April 1, was the festival's only ticketed event, at $7; it was "prepared by students and members of the international groups," and its proceeds went to the festival's costs.37 About 250 came. The Y's international program director, Willie Seid, told them, "This is our house and we're asking you to be our guest," and called the festival "a pilot project."38
The next spring the Office of International Student Affairs and the Cosmopolitan Club invited the campus to an evening of international dinner and performance at the Y, and from 1986 the three hosts, the Y, the Cosmopolitan Club and the University office (later International Student and Scholar Services), put their names to it together.407 A Cosmopolitan Club director later recalled that the dinner "was inspired by previous Cosmopolitan Club dinners" and that the club approached the Y and the University office, "and that was the first dinner."41 Every count since starts from 1984: the 9th dinner in 1992, the 18th in 2001, the 25th in 2008, the 40th in 2025.42434445 By 1989 it was the International Dinner and Performance Night.8
The evening has kept the shape of 1984. Volunteer cooks, from student associations, cultural houses, families and longtime community cooks, each make a dish "from their country of origin." The Cosmopolitan Club long recruited them and cooked much of the meal; the Y gave the space and the performances; the University office handled donations and logistics; and about 60 volunteers helped.4146 The Y pays for the ingredients, $40 for a main dish and $20 for a dessert in 2012, and "cooks eat for free!"47 Each cook makes about 200 small portions, "think a spoonful or a bite."4846 The dishes are laid out on tables marked with flag cards in Murphy Gallery and Lounge, and guests carry their plates into Latzer Hall.4950 Since 2011 guests have gone through the food line as they arrive; before that they were seated first and called up by table.50
Then comes the program: a musician during dinner, a welcome, until 2016 the John W. Price Award for international understanding, a bow for the cooks, and four to six acts.5152 In 2008 they were Bharatanatyam, Irish dance, the Filipino bench dance Sayaw sa Bangko and hip-hop; in 2012 Korean drumming and hula; in 2017 koto, beatbox, a Venezuelan harp, Remo dance, the Jasmine Field Ensemble and Congolese rumba.445153 Aurora Villacorta, "Miss V," who had come to the Y as an international student and taught dance there for 40 years, led sing-alongs and lent the table linens.525453
The banquet was the Y's best-known international event for 25 years, and the dinner has been for 40. A student who went in 2011 called it "the best of the whole world in one plate."49 It drew about 250 in 1984 and 2004, over 300 in 2006, with food from nearly 40 countries, and it sold out every year from 2008 into the 2010s; in 2012 the Y's press release was headed "It Sells Out Every Year."38555657 In 2012, 37 dishes came from about 30 groups; in 2017, 36 dishes from 22 countries.5153
For many cooks it was a way into the community. Sandra and Michael Giger cooked a Brazilian dish for about 13 years; "It's a wonderful introduction to all of the cultures represented here," he said in 2016.58 In 2017 the Y called the dinner "a key community bridge-building event," and in 2019 the New American Welcome Center took it into its work.5960
The dinner also carries an award. The John W. Price Award, named for the director of the Y's international program from 1950 to 1968, has gone every year since 1989 to someone who shows leadership in international understanding, and from 1989 until 2016 it was presented at the dinner. Since 2017 it has been given at the Y's Annual Dinner & Auction.61624463
The International Dinner carries on. Its partners have changed: the Cosmopolitan Club, which closed in 2010, was still named as a sponsor through 2013, and from 2015 the dinner was presented by the Y and International Student and Scholar Services.6465 Tickets rose from $8 (1990–2012) to $15 by 2015 and then came down to $12 in 2019 and $10 in 2025.66656745
The pandemic changed the format. The 37th dinner was held in person on March 8, 2020, days before the shutdown. The 38th, on March 7, 2021, was virtual: guests picked up a sampler from two local restaurants and joined a program online.4668 There was no spring dinner in 2022; the 39th came back in person on September 9, 2022, free, with food trucks, as the start of Welcoming Week.69 No dinner was held in 2023. In September 2024 the Y co-sponsored a Homecoming International Dinner with the University, which was not counted in the series.7071
The 40th dinner, on April 4, 2025, changed the cooking. Food came from five local immigrant-owned restaurants instead of volunteer cooks, partner organizations introduced the performers, and the tickets "sold out almost immediately."4572 The 41st was announced for March 6, 2026, and then postponed; it was not rescheduled in 2026.73
"This university is a great laboratory of international politics." — Prof. E. D. Soper at the first International Banquet, 19253
"International history has often been made on the campus of a university." — Harry Holmes of the World Alliance for International Friendship, 193110
"This is our house and we're asking you to be our guest." — Willie Seid, at the first International Dinner, 198438
"It really is a community collaborative event." — Kasey Umland, 201041
"It's a wonderful introduction to all of the cultures represented here." — Michael Giger, a cook for about 13 years, 201658
"It is a platform where I can share my culture and also get to meet people in this community." — a cook at the International Dinner, 201976
"When someone eats your food you feel accepted." — Anne Lutomia, a volunteer, 202168
The International Dinner and Performance Night brings food and performances from dozens of countries to Latzer Hall at the University YMCA. Watch for the next dinner's date; tickets usually sell out.
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