Maureen E. Johannessen doesn't get to bring a pool to work every day.

But it also isn't every day that she and her staff at the Leverett House Dining Hall scrap the steel trays of oatmeal to bring out brightly patterned fabrics, flowers, fountains, and, yes--a blue plastic pool.

Down the street in Dunster and Mather Houses, Dining Hall General Manager Richard M. Spingel and his crew had been moving tables since late Saturday night to make room for the two large wind-surfing sails they hauled in early yesterday morning. Eliot House boasted a frozen drink bar in a makeshifts thatched hut and swaying schools of helium-balloon fish weighted down by pineapples. Signs instructed diners to "eat your fruit or wear it on your head."

The efforts of Harvard Dining Services (HDS) in yesterday's Caribbean "Festive Meal" did not go unnoticed.

Mather House's Theresa Crockett '00 said she has never traveled from her native Canada to the West Indies--and excitedly donned a straw hat and sunglasses while running around with her disposable camera and a new-found ukulele.

But for those who hail from the Caribbean, who know what a home-cooked meal from "the Islands" really looks like, the HDS celebratory brunch is not exactly "authentic."

HDS officials don't deny the problems of putting on an "exotic" meal, but argue that it's better they try than have nothing at all.

an Authentic Experience?

While Joelle N. Simpson '99, former co-chair of the Harvard-Radcliffe Caribbean Club, says she enjoyed aspects of the meal, she did find the fantasy world HDS evoked--complete with beach balls and surf boards--"obviously touristic."

"It is true that there are some aspects of the Caribbean that do look like that, especially the parts set up for American tourists," says Simpson, who grew up in Trinidad. "But when you get into the real culture, it's nothing like that. It's not like we sit in our homes drinking pina coladas with little umbrellas."

Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society James Watson, who teaches the popular course Anthropology 105, "Food and culture," suggests that finding an "authentic" cultural experience is like trying to shoot a moving target.

"Authenticity is in the eyes of the beholder. Who is to say what is 'authentic' food? Authenticity depends on what one has in youth--what your mother and grandmother cook for you," he says.

Although Shivani Grover '99 of Mather House says the food at yesterday's brunch did not exactly match what she's used to eating with family from Trinidad and Tobago, she agrees that defining authentic Caribbean culture is an inherently difficult task.

"Why should I be offended? Every island is different and has its own food. You can't blame them," she says.

"And everyone's mom cooks differently. The food is not authentic, but it is fun," Grover says. "I'm sure nobody really thinks this is Caribbean food."