The aroma of Middle Eastern dishes ranging from pita and falafel to rice, grilled vegetables and pieces of marinated meat filled Café Lab the evening of April 28 at the Eid potluck, celebrating the break of the fasting of the month-long Ramadan holiday. The event was organized by Lab’s Muslim families group.

The celebration at Lab, which began in 2009 with just a handful of Muslim families, now includes many more people from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds throughout the school.

Lab parent Saima Sufi, the lead organizer of the event, said that since the event began, there has been an increase of excitement and involvement within the Muslim community to share their culture.

“MSA and all the other groups all come together and they really share in this tradition,” she said. “We want everybody to leave this place knowing that we love to eat, we love everybody — just come and hang out with us.”

The potluck dinner was followed by a celebration for seniors in the Muslim Students’ Association, where club members shared speeches and fond memories as a way to honor the seniors.

Senior Ana Cucalon said she enjoyed attending and hanging out with friends.

“I really enjoyed getting to try all these different foods and learn more about the culture,” she said. “It was also just a nice event for us all to get together before the end of school.”