UNL foreign students create
authentic meals on campus
By Joel Schroeder
Staff Reporter
Have you ever imagined study
ing abroad and having to adapt to
a different language and culture?
If you have, you probably haven't
considered the tilings you would
miss, like friends, movies and other
things we take for granted.
And what about the food? Not
many of us would want to part
with our hamburgers, hot clogs
and, especially, mom's apple pie.
Some foreign students at UNL,
who are dealing with this situ
ation, seem to be adapting well.
While customs laws make it il
legal to import some foods from
other countries, foreign students
are usually able to find the foods
r-:.-..
they want.
German Mendoza, a graduate
student from Mexico, says he tries
to cook food from his home coun
try as often as he can. He says he
can find a good amount of the
basic food m Lincoln, but cites
differences between the food here
and the same food in Mexico.
"Cattle are much heavier here,"
Mendoza said, "and the type of
cut is different here than in Mex
ico."
Mendoza also said he and his
friends make their own tortillas,
because they have more flavor than
store-bougnt tortillas.
Sung-Dong Han, a philosophy
graduate student from Korea, says
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Doc Homer/Daily Nebraskan
Owner of King Tut’s Groceries, Yosry Bishay, restocks cooking oils and checks stock inventory
on aisle shelves.
East treats western buyer
By Heather Heinisch
Staff Reporter
Have a craving for a chickpea
falafei sandwich or perhaps for
some halva, the Middle Eastern
answer to peanut butter?
Yosry Bishay, owner, of Kine
Tut's Groceries and Imported
Goods, 1642 O St., sells not only
falafei and halva but spices, tea,
cheese, olives and other food items
from all over the world.
Bishay says he imports most of
the food from the Middle East and
Mediterranean, but some things
also come from India, Pakistan and
northern Europe.
Middle Eastern and Mediterra
nean people don't eat a lot of meat,
he said, but the food is very high
in protein and vitamins.
"It's healthier than any other
food in the world," he said.
Among the shelves of canned
goods with strange pictures and
mostly Arabic writing arecanned
squid, stuffed grape loaves, pome
granate and mango juice. It takes a
tew seconds to figure out what's
inside, but English is usually
printed on the back side.
King Tut's specializes in bulk
food. Most of the spices and herbs
are familiar to American kitchens,
but others are not, like mlauchien
leaves, curry, tarragon and dried
red peppers.
King Tut's also boasts of being
the only grocery store in Lincoln
that has imported cheese; it car
ries more than 20 varieties from
countries including Greece, Swit
zerland, New Zealand and Yugo
slavia and Scandinavia.
Most of the cheese is made from
sheep's milk. The five varieties of
the white, sal tv feta cheese, how
ever are made from goat's milk.
"It's a beautiful cheese," bishay
said.
Other bulk items include eight
varieties of Greek olives, dried figs,
dates, raisins, nuts and rice.
Bishay said he also sells butter
by the pound.
"I sell it, but at the same time I
tell my customers that it's not good
for them," he said with a smile.
Transportation prices on im
ported goods have risen since the
war in the Persian Gulf, he said.
Other factors such as adverse
weather also can affect prices.
There is a drought in Greece
now, he said, and nobody can get
good olives in stock.
Bishay said he orders his mer
chandise through suppliers in New
Jersey, California and Chicago.
"I buy Greek food from Greeks,
and Middle Eastern food from
people in the Middle East," he
said. "I want to get the best qual
ity."
When the store first opened nine
years ago, Bishay saicf about 80
percent of his customers were
foreigners. Now, they are evenly
split between foreigners ana
Americans.
"Americans are good people,"
he said. "They like to try different
things."
Tne best selling items in the
store are the olives, cheeses, pita
breads and olive oil, he said.
Bishay first came to the United
States in 1969 from Egypt to work
as a bee farmer in Fairmont. He
moved to Lincoln two years later
and has worked at.the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln as an agri
cultural research technician for the
past 20 years.
In the summertime, he keeps a
bee hive in the window of the
store and sells honey by the pou nd
all year.
The store hours are Monday
through Friday 11:30 to 1 p.m. and
3 to 6:30 p.m./and Saturday from
10:30 to 6:30 p.m.