The Galveston County Daily News

The Gulf Coast enjoys a wide variety of international cuisines — Mexican, Greek, Vietnamese and Italian are perennial favorites — and during the summer, many local establishments have even more international flavor, thanks to an influx of student workers from Europe, Asia and Africa.

Hundreds of students from other countries augment the Galveston County work force in the busy summer months, traveling here on the J-1 Visa summer work-travel program.

The special visa enables full-time students to spend their summer vacation abroad while working to pay their expenses. The program was designed to give college students an immersion in American life while providing seasonal businesses with an additional source of workers.

“We have 96 international employees this summer from 12 countries — Nigeria, Ghana, Columbia, Vietnam, Bulgaria, Moldova, Russia, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Australia,” Melissa White, director of sales and marketing at Schlitterbahn in Galveston, said. “Of course, we try first to hire from here on the island, but we always need more.”

Recruiting fairs held by the Council on International Educational Exchange bring many of the students and employers together, but San Luis Hotel personnel director Jody Jones went one step further this year.

“I went to Moldova and Ukraine this spring with particular positions in mind and found the best students to fill them,” she said. “This year, we weren’t sure we’d need as many as in the past, because of the economy.”

Economic projections led the State Department to lower the number of J-1 Visas awarded this summer by almost 20 percent to ensure the students would be matched with seasonal jobs.

Jones recruited 40 international students who work throughout the San Luis Resort properties, including, appropriately, at the International House of Pancakes.

Since most of Galveston’s J-1 workers are involved in food service, they’ve had plenty of opportunities to familiarize themselves with local specialties.

“We don’t have seafood in Moldova, but I enjoy eating it here,” Igor Fala said. “The tuna at Landry’s is one of my favorites.”

Fala, 20, spent last summer working at the San Luis and returned for a second summer.

Although Fala likes American food, there are several dishes he looks forward to eating when he returns to Moldova.

“Our national food is mamaliga — it’s a mixture of corn, sour cream and cheese,” he explained. “I also miss zama, which is like a chicken soup, only sour. That’s my favorite.”

Schlitterbahn lifeguard Bo Kushev misses his grandmother’s Bulgarian meatballs.

“I’ve tried to make them, but nobody can do it like my grandma, not even my mom,” he said.

Kushev, 21, is spending his third summer at Schlitterbahn.

“I come back for friends and all the people I’ve met here,” he said.

While pining for his grandmother’s meatballs, he admits to almost as much fondness for chicken strips and Whataburgers.

Christian Orupabo, a Nigerian studying mechanical engineering in London, agreed that fried food had its appeal.

“When I came here, people told me about funnel cakes. Once I tried it, I liked it,” he said.

Orupabo works in food service at Schlitterbahn.

Ukrainian Kateryna Guzhalovska misses borscht, the soup of her native country.

“We grate beets, potatoes, cabbage, carrots and tomatoes and fry it until it’s cooked, then add it to pork stock and serve it with bacon and garlic rye bread,” she explained.

Guzhalovska is currently working at International House of Pancakes but hasn’t let pancakes replace blini, thin buckwheat pancakes served with fruit or sour cream, on her list of favorites.

“At home, we have celebrations where people make stacks of blini,” she said.

Fellow Ukrainians Eugene Grytskov and Adriana Chakava concurred, though they’re making do for the summer with other sweets, like ice cream and pecan bars.

Grytskov works both as a San Luis pool attendant and as a waiter at the Holiday Inn, and Chakava buses tables at the San Luis.

Food is actually only a small part of what the international students learn from working in America, and most of them focus more on polishing their English and learning other skills.

As a Schlitterbahn employee, Daniela Santamaria, a student from Columbia, said, “After cooking all this food every day, I really don’t think too much about food when I’m off.”

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Ukrainian Borscht

3 medium beets, peeled and shredded 3 carrots, peeled and shredded 3 medium baking potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste 3/4 cup (or more) pork or vegetable stock 1/2 medium head cabbage, cored and shredded 1 (8-ounce) can diced tomatoes 3 cloves garlic, minced Salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon white sugar 1/2 cup sour cream, for topping 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Heat oil in Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender. Add the beets, carrots and potatoes, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Add the cabbage, and the can of diced tomatoes.

Stir in the tomato paste and water until well blended. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the raw garlic to the soup, cover and turn off the heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Taste, and season with salt, pepper and sugar.

Ladle into serving bowls, and garnish with sour cream and fresh parsley. Serves eight.

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Bulgarian Meatballs

2 pounds ground meat, (pork or a mixture of pork and beef) 1 large onion chopped very finely 2 medium sized slices of dry bread 2-3 medium-sized eggs Salt, black pepper, savory, parsley, cumin Plain flour Grape seed oil for frying

On the evening before you plan to cook the meatballs, dip the dry bread in water and squeeze out the excess. Then mix all the ingredients and leave to stand in the fridge overnight. At this point, the mixture can be frozen.

It is important that the onion is finely chopped, or the meatballs will fall apart.

For the meatballs: make balls about the size of a golf ball, flatten a bit, roll in flour and shallow fry in a pan. Serves eight to 10.

— Recipe from “Caramella Cooks,” by Caramella Mou

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Blini Casserole

For The Batter 4 large eggs (no substitutes) 1 1/4 cups milk 2 tablespoon s sour cream 1/4 cup butter, melted 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

For The Filling 2 (71/2- to 8-ounce) packages curd-style farmer cheese 1 (15- to 16-ounce) container ricotta cheese, any type 2 large eggs or1/2 cup egg substitute 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons lemon juice

To Serve: Sour cream Plain or vanilla yogurt Applesauce Sliced fresh strawberries or other fruit

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or coat it with nonstick cooking spray.

In a blender or a food processor, combine all batter ingredients. Process until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the container once or twice. Measure out 11/2 cups of the batter, and pour it into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until it is set.

Meanwhile, combine all the filling ingredients in a large bowl, and mix them well.

When the bottom layer has set, remove it from the oven and spread the filling over it, evening it with a knife or spatula.

Carefully pour the remaining batter over the cheese filling so the filling is completely covered.

Return the casserole to the 350 degree oven, and bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is puffed and set.

Let the casserole cool slightly for about 10 minutes before cutting it into squares. Serve with fruit, applesauce or sour cream.