Homecoming Week is in full effect at FAMU, and SGA hosted its annual Taste of a Rattler event Wednesday on The Set. The event was a festive affair filled with music, food, fun and more food.
“Taste of a Ratter is an event that we’ve been doing for a long time. We changed the name, I think, in 2013 to Taste of a Rattler. I think it was SGA BBQ before that. It’s basically an event where we call out different food trucks from around the city, so they can have a taste of Tallahassee, and things like that,” said Johnika Moss, a graduate assistant for SGA.
Taste of a Rattler introduces a culturally diverse flavor to FAMU students every year, as vendors from all over the Tallahassee area bring out a sampling of some of the most varied tastes to the students of FAMU. This year was no exception, as the food selection ranged from a variety of different vendors. From Big D’s BBQ, which severed up a slice of soul food with their selection of Bar-B-Q chicken, ribs, baked beans, and potato salad. Sam’s Pineapple, which offered up a unique taste of Hawaiian flavors, with their signature pineapple served with chicken and rice inside. And even Metz Catering, which is known for its upstate-style cuisine, made an appearance at the event serving up the best they had to offer.
“FAMU is pretty diverse. So at this event here you get to see the different cultures and tastes of food. And then the thing about it is, most people have never had soul food before. So this is their first time having this food. Some people have never had dessert with a pineapple and rice. So it’s really diverse, it’s really cool that people get to eat those things. And we get to give them the opportunity to taste those foods for the first time,” Theresa Jean Louis, a sophomore SGA senator, said.
Taste of a Rattler looks to bring in a new crop of vendors from across Tallahassee to FAMU during Homecoming Week. Every year is an opportunity for SGA to do something different, which means new vendors and more diverse cultures year after year.
“I guess it’s bringing in more opportunities, shall we say. Vendors get to come here, and they get to showcase what they do. I think in the near future it will be more successful and it will bring more diversity.” Louis said.
“This is the way that you do it. Because oftentimes people think just because we go to an HBCU we don’t know different cultures. So this way people can get insight on different food and other things that are going around Tallahassee,” Moss said.