This week alone, the Dialog Forum and local Turkish families expect to hit State College with more than 400 desserts.

Through the end of February, members of Penn State's Dialog Forum and State College Turkish families will serve 1,000 free Ashure, or Noah's Pudding -- a dessert made from various grains, nuts and fruits -- to the Centre County area, said Mustafa Harcar, president of the Dialog Forum.

"Cooking and distributing Ashure is a common practice among Muslim and Christian people in the Middle East," said Frank Ayata, a volunteer with the Dialog Forum and a State College resident.

In the tradition, the Ashure is prepared at home and shared with friends, neighbors, colleagues, classmates and relatives, regardless of faith, he said.

Ayata hopes through this demonstration, the Dialog Forum will accurately depict its non-political, intercultural and educational organization's focus on finding ways to bring people from different cultural backgrounds and faiths together, he said.

"Our main goal is to get people from different faiths and backgrounds and bring them together on a common platform of tolerance and diversity," Ayata said. "We want to take this event as an opportunity to promote peace and to strengthen inter-community bonds in the State College area."

From what students have said, Harcar (senior-industrial engineering) thinks the group's attempts to accomplish this goal have been successful thus far, he said.

"I thought it was a nice experience to have a little cultural event in the middle of the day -- a nice change of pace," said Harcar's classmate, Jeff Bidus (senior-industrial engineering), who received Ashure from Harcar.

The food is based on a mixture of all types of fruit and nuts and it is fitting it be acknowledged and consumed by people of all types of races and religion, Harcar said.

"It was nice to get a taste of what they celebrate," said Gina Anselmo (senior-industrial engineering), also Harcar's classmate, referring to the Turkish tradition. "I was surprised to taste a mix of sweet and fruity, though it had beans and chickpeas in it, too. It was a strange combination."

In his presentation to his industrial engineering 400-level class, Harcar explained the Turkish-Islamic tradition.

The prophet Noah is a common figure among Judaic, Christian and Islamic faiths, Harcar said. The Turkish-Islamic tradition holds that when Noah's ark came to rest on Mount Ararat in Northeastern Turkey, they felt a feast of celebration was called for, but their supplies were exhausted.

However, they hunted through the ark and put every little bit of food they could find into a pudding and "made themselves a splendid feast of Ashure," Harcar said.

Students who tried Noah's Pudding seemed to be happy they did, Harcar said.

"If I could get the recipe, I definitely would," Tatianna Perez (senior-industrial engineering) said.

In addition to the distribution two events will take place in off-campus churches, including a presentation about the origin of the Ashure tradition, a question-and-answer session, and a speaker from the Dialog Forum. Both of the events are free and open to the public. The first will be at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 22 at the Christ Community Church of State College, 200 Ellis Place. The second will be at 10 a.m. March 1 at the State College Presbyterian Church, 132 W. Beaver Ave.