USC plays host to an diverse group of approximately 1,500 international students, representing nearly 100 different nations. Though Columbia differs from these students’ hometowns in many ways, as master of international business student and South African Emily Hobson said, there’s one aspect of culture we all share.
“Food brings people together,” Hobson said. “Coming around a table and meeting with all your close friends and family, food is the center of that.”
A classic Southern spread includes mac and cheese, fried chicken, beef stew, biscuits and gravy, smothered pork chops and collard greens, said Isaac Pressley Jr., an instructor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management with a background in culinary arts. Southern Living, a lifestyle magazine based in the South, mentions cornbread, shrimp, grits, oysters and peach cobbler as additional staples.
However, the exact definition of Southern food is a bit different for every South Carolinian, Pressley Jr. said.
“When you hear homemade, it depends on where their home is,” Pressley Jr. said. “I have a really good friend of mine; he’s from Puerto Rico, so his homemade dishes, his rice and beans, look a lot different from my rice and beans.”
For him, the main thing that goes into making his favorite Southern dishes isn’t found in a cookbook.
“There’s no particular way to, there’s no recipe that makes Southern food,” Pressley Jr. said. “Yes, there are ingredients, but love is going to be your main ingredient.”
First impressions
No matter where home is, everyone has a preference for local dishes, said Loi Le, a 2018 USC alumnus who works with the local organization International Friendship Ministries.
International Friendship Ministries hosts volunteer-cooked dinners and classes for Columbia residents originally from other countries in an effort to help them adjust to life in Columbia and build connections.
Asmita Shrestha, originally from Nepal, whose husband is pursuing a doctorate in chemistry at USC, is a regular attendee. She said sitting down for dinner was a great introduction not only to American food but to the people as well.
"At first, I was really scared to meet Americans because I didn't know how they would behave to foreigners and how open they were to other cultures," Shrestha said. "They are accepting us wholeheartedly."
Mass communications doctoral student Ertan Ağaoğlu, who came to USC from Turkey, said Southern food makes Columbia feel a bit more like home.
“Even though I wasn’t grown up here, it feels like comfort food,” Ağaoğlu said. “I love eating it.”
Throw something on the grill
Le said he's gotten a good idea of international students' tastes. While they still prefer food from home, one Southern staple consistently wins people over.
“I think everyone thinks that their food’s better,” Le said. “But a lot of people, I think, enjoy some Southern barbecue.”
It’s hard not to come across barbecue living in South Carolina, whether it’s served in a restaurant or a friend’s backyard. Third-year international business and Chinese enterprise student Jackson Mak, who’s on exchange from Hong Kong, gave barbecue a shot, having no idea what to expect.
“I have tried pulled pork in Columbia, and somehow, I really like it,” Mak said. “In Hong Kong, we just don’t really use this way to make pulled pork, or we just do not have this dish.”
Second-year mass communications student Richelaine Tromp, a native of Aruba, said Home Team in Five Points is her favorite barbecue spot, and is a fan of their pulled pork taco, paired with a sweet tea.
“It’s very Southern food,” Tromp said. “You can get barbecue in Aruba, but you can’t get it the same way.”
In addition to South Carolina's signature mustard sauce and pork-based style, Hobson said she was also looking to try some vinegar-based sauce and Texas smoked brisket.
Toss it in the fryer
German master of international business student Henrik Callesen said two types of food have stuck out to him as deeply Southern: seafood and anything fried.
Master of international business student Tom Busson of Paris, France, also developed a taste for fried food.
“I’ve had fried chicken and fried alligators,” Busson said. “You dip the fried meat into the sauce, and it’s really, really nice.”
Callesen said his lack of enthusiasm for seafood has sometimes been a nuisance when looking for good meals in the South, but he has a few more fried favorites.
“I’m not a particular fan of seafood, which makes it hard to enjoy some of the delicacies down here,” Callesen said. “Fried pickles, fried green tomatoes are very good.”
With thousands of chicken restaurants operating in the US, according to a 2023 report from Statista, and chains such as Popeye’s, Bojangles and Chick-fil-A always looking to expand alongside local staples such as Bernie’s Chicken, it is easy to see how international students get just as swept up as locals.
Grocery runs and nutrition facts
Cooking methods are not the only things that are different from home; the ingredients are too.
One thing that stood out to Filip Versterre, a first-year mass communications student who was recruited to USC’s men’s soccer team from Denmark, was that food in South Carolina just does not seem very healthy.
"Food is more processed here,” Versterre said. “The quality of products is lower.”
Versterre said it was fun to indulge in high-calorie meals at first, but the charm wore off in the end.
"In the start, I enjoyed it a lot," Versterre said. "But now I kind of miss European food.
Busson said healthy food tends to be much more expensive in Columbia than back in Paris.
According to data from a 2022 study conducted by Northeastern, Tufts and Harvard Medical School professors, more than 73% of US food is ultra-processed, compared to just 43.8% across the Atlantic.
While most food is processed to some extent, even frozen vegetables for example, diet classification system Nova described ultra processed food as created mostly or entirely from extracts and constituents, with little — if any — intact food used in the final product.
It’s not all grim, though. Shrestha said Americans are doing something right when cooking vegetables, saying healthier methods are used here in comparison to Nepal, though by no means did she say America was perfect.
South Carolina-raised fourth-year advertising student Jaclyn Simmons, who prioritizes eating healthy, said she felt encouraged to go out to markets and get fresh food as much as possible during her time abroad.
“When I lived in Italy, I would go to the farmers market every single day,” Simmons said. “I would go to the same Sicilian men every day, and then I would go to a butcher, and I’d get my produce that way.”
No tip?
Among international visitors, the US has become notorious for tipping culture. Indian electrical engineering doctoral alumnus Parth Bhuvela said in India, tipping is reserved for truly exceptional service, but he knows it is not a direct comparison.
“It’s a special something on top of their salary,” Bhuvela said. “Compared to the US, it seems a lot more like the waiting staff is more dependent on the tips.”
Hobson said she sometimes feels rushed in American restaurants compared to back home, where she and her family and friends have braai-style meals, an Afrikaans term that translates to barbecue and refers to a tradition of treating meals as social events and celebrations.
“The food comes out really fast; they eat,” Hobson said. “They want to turn tables and make money and everything, but that speed of eating here is something that was quite a culture shock for me.”
Shrestha said tipping culture, adding to already high costs, has made it difficult to explore Columbia’s restaurants. However, she understands the situation for servers.
While it's been difficult to fully explore Columbia's restaurant scene for many of these students, those who have had positive experiences.
Bhuvela said living in Columbia has encouraged him to try new things from new cultures that he couldn’t always find back in India.
“You can have Thai food at restaurants, you can have Japanese food, you can have Mexican food,” Bhuvela said. “That’s something I like about the U.S.”
New horizons
USC offers approximately 350 study abroad programs spread across over 80 destinations. Whether it's to try the food or simply be immersed in a new city, the options are out there for local students to have their own international experience.
Second-year business student Abigail Chase, who is part of USC’s Global Fellows living and learning community and has traveled abroad, said going abroad opens up the world for students in a way few other experiences can match.
“You’re living on your own in college; you still have a really big support system around you if you need anything,” Chase said. “After college, it’s completely different, and I feel like studying abroad really helps with that and adapting to new environments and meeting new people.”
Ağaoğlu, who had always wanted to study abroad, said going abroad broadens students' perspectives, whether it comes to food or just understanding how other people live.
“You explore different cultures, and you expand your horizon about people, and you learn a lot,” Ağaoğlu said. “Your life experience expands significantly when you move abroad.”
Hometown favorites
Want to expand your horizons? Look up the recipes and give some of these recommendations a try.
Versterre — Denmark: Frikadeller, or Danish meatballs.
Callesen — Germany: Döner Kebab, a chicken or beef kebab served with bread and vegetables.
Mak — Hong Kong: Hot Pot, a bowl of hot soup that you dip assorted seafood, beef and vegetables into.
Hobson — South Africa: Sosaties, a chicken, lamb or beef kebab with a vinegar and apricot based marinade.
Bhuvela — India: Biryani, a mixed rice dish that can feature chicken, goat, lamb or beef along with seafood and gravy.
Busson — France: Beef Bourguignon, a stew cooked with red wine and beef broth, featuring onions, carrots and mushrooms.
Ağaoğlu — Turkey: Lahmacun, or Turkish pizza, a thin pizza often topped with minced meat and vegetables.
Shrestha — Nepal: Momos, a dumpling filled with meat and vegetables.
Tromp — Aruba: Pastechi, a fried pastry filled with cheese, beef, chicken ham or fish.