The James Ard Adventist Center hosted a food tasting on Tuesday evening to showcase different flavors of vegan dining.
The tasting was part of the Center’s Revelation Seminar taking place this week. The goal is to develop a healthy, spiritual and physical lifestyle. Dr. Martin Opoku, a licensed doctor and vegan since 1991, along with Center members, thought it would be a good idea to add a vegetarian tasting to the concept of developing a healthy lifestyle.
“Prevention is better than cure,” Dr. Opoku said when asked if a health problem triggered his decision to become vegan.
Dr. Opoku had no health issues before his healthy lifestyle change, but he wanted to prevent illness.
In his research, Dr. Opoku said he found that vegetarians live eight to 10 years longer than those who consume meat, and many diseases can be traced back to meat-eating
lifestyles.
The tasting opened up as the guests and members formed a circle to pray. After the prayer, guests were invited to sample dishes.
Members served guests buffet style and explained what was in each dish.
The table consisted of breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes. The first dish was oatmeal raisin cereal served with soy milk.
The table also included tofu, gluten, chickpeas, wheat noodles, fruit smoothies, along with wheat and banana bread.
After plates were piled with samples of each dish, attendants sat down to enjoy their meals.
“I never had vegetarian food. So it was weird to taste,” senior psychology major, Michelle Jones said.
The tasting successfully ended with smiles but not before attendants went back for seconds.
The James Ard Adventist Center was started by international students on campus who are Seventh-day Adventists and wanted a place to worship.
With the help of Gloria Ard, a former professor in child development at GSU, the center was established in July.
The building is named after her husband, James Ard, who was also an employee at GSU.
The center has prayer every Wednesday at 7 p.m., Bible study every Friday evening, and main worship twice every Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. It is located at the old post office.