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They were able to make their visit right here in Lancaster city, by sampling ethnic cuisine in the "Taste the World" fundraising event put on by Kids and Cultures on Friday evening.
"We are pleased with the community's enthusiasm surrounding this event," Kids and Cultures co-founder Timm Wenger said, noting that the event was sold out and 40 people were on the waiting list.
The sampling tour netted more than $4,500 that will be used for Kids and Cultures programs presented at local libraries, he said.
The tour got its start, Wenger said, after group organizers ate at restaurants that previously had donated to events or camps. They realized there were a lot of ethnic restaurants downtown that people didn't know much about.
"We wanted to give people the chance to be aware of them — step inside and smell the smells, see the food and sample a specialty," Wenger said.
Because Kids and Cultures is designed to help children learn about world cultures, the group wanted to introduce people to some of the cultures that are represented in Lancaster city.
"Most of the owners (of the restaurants) have moved here from another country, and they make up our diverse culture in Lancaster," he said.
One of his favorite restaurants, a Salvadoran establishment on Mulberry Street, recently went out of business because of the economy and a tripling of the cost of corn, he said.
"The food was tremendous, and we didn't want that to happen anywhere else," Wenger said.
The restaurants that participated in the tour were Cocina Mexicana, Coffee Shop Colombian Bakery, La Casa Bella, La Cocina Restaurant, La Costeña Peruvian Restaurant, La Dolce Vita, Rachel's Cafe & Creperie, Sakura Asian Fusion & Sushi Bar and Spyro Gyros.
Sean Perrine of James Street and Jaime Wolf of Denver — both of whom attended Franklin & Marshall College and are familiar with the city — said they had been to two or three of the restaurants before, but Friday offered the pair the chance to get to nine of them.
"We like to come downtown and try new places," Wolf said. "Every week we try a new place, so we're getting it all in one night."
"It's been great," said Perrine, whose favorite food of the night was the guava bread from the Colombian Bakery.
Brownstown resident Milt Stoltzfus said the Taste the World tour was a "fantastic idea. We're only halfway through, and we're full."
"You eat sweet, good food, and before you know it, you're full," said his wife, Lois.
Milt Stoltzfus said he was expecting little samples, but many of the restaurants' offerings were full-sized. To him, the tour is a success.
"We're finding places we didn't know existed, and we're going to come back to," Stoltzfus said.
Lois Stoltzfus said she didn't know many of the restaurants existed, either — "and I'm in tourism!"
East Hempfield resident Lori Lieberman said she and her daughter, Reghan, went to the International Culture Festival in Washington, D.C., which was advertised on the Kids and Cultures Web site.
"It was so much fun, I thought we'd come here," she said. "There's a lot of restaurants that I had not thought to go into, so it was fun to try."
Reghan said she thought the tour was great and voted for La Dolce Vita as her favorite spot.
"It's wonderful, awesome," said Manheim resident Merv Shenk. "The kids (Katrina, 8; Philip, 10; and Ben, 12) have been to five countries. We thought we'd do four more today."
While at Spyro Gyros, Shenk's family had spinach pie with stuffed grape leaves and gyros.
"It's awesome," Katrina said.
Brother Philip agreed. "It's really good. I'm glad we got this stuff," he said.
Because the event was so popular, Wenger said, and if the restaurants are willing to do it again, the group might hold another sampling tour before the end of summer.
E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com
