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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer 12:01 PM Thursday, March 11, 2010

HAMILTON — Many Irish dishes are expected to be on hand for the second annual Taste of Ireland at Miami University Hamilton.

Set for 11:30 a.m. March 17 in room 114 of Rentschler Hall, the event will include not only Irish tastes, but Irish sights and sounds courtesy of an Irish-themed movie, said Katina Chandler, the senior program assistant for the university’s office of multicultural affairs.

“It’s a simple event,” Chandler said. “Faculty, staff and students bring in authentic Irish dishes and we do a movie on Irish culture. We invite everyone to come in and talk about their Irish heritage.”

The office of multicultural affairs spearheads numerous other events on campus, including a Martin Luther King Day march in January, African-American read-ins for Black History Month, and a festival in August for Latin American History Month, said Chandler.

The Taste of Ireland event got its start when “A student came by and said ‘Why don’t we ever have anything of an Irish nature?’ So we thought, why don’t we make something?” Chandler said.

The dishes that might be served include Irish cream cake with icing, chicken with colcannon, which has mashed potatoes and cabbage; potato leek soup and Irish soda bread, she said.

The Irish movie had not been chosen at press time. Chandler said she was considering showing the movie “Evelyn,” in which Pierce Brosnan stars as a man whose wife abandons her family, and the Irish Catholic church wants to put the children in orphanages.

Last year’s event drew about 40 people.

“I didn’t realize we had so many people of Irish background,” Chandler said.

The debut event last year featured mostly contributions from the staff, but students are allowed to bring in food as well.

“We’re trying to bring about communication about diversity,” said Chandler

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.