Recommended foods for a high school cultural festival: from Instagrammable items to easy, casual bites.
When it comes to running a food stall at a school festival, it’s easy to agonize over what kind of food will draw a crowd.
In this article, we’ll introduce plenty of great food ideas perfect for high school festivals! We’ve picked out not only classic festival favorites, but also options that require minimal prep and eye-catching treats that will shine on Instagram—menus that we especially want high schoolers to try.
Enjoy the school festival to the fullest, including the fun of making everything together with your friends!
- Festival booth menu items that can be served without cooking and without using fire
- Instagrammable cultural festival foods: featuring trendy sweets and Korean eats
- Roundup of classic and popular festival foods, plus trending menu items
- Summary of unusual foods we’d like to offer at the school festival’s food stall
- A catalog of recommended festival booths for school culture festivals, with ideas that will shine on social media.
- Recommended for school cultural festivals! Stall ideas that let you enjoy a traditional fair atmosphere
- [For High School Students] A roundup of recommended attractions for the school festival
- Attraction Ideas for School Festivals That Only High Schoolers Can Pull Off?
- Games that rival street festivals and variety shows!? Crowd-pleasers for school cultural festivals
- Instagram-worthy ideas for a high school cultural festival: photo spots everyone will love
- [Cultural Festival / School Festival Theme] Carefully Selected High-Impact Recommended Phrases!
- [Moe Moe Kyun!] Maid Café Ideas for the School Cultural Festival
- Stylish, cute, and attention-grabbing! Signboard ideas that will stand out at school festivals and culture festivals
Recommended foods for a high school cultural festival: from Instagrammable items to easy bites (11–20)
Croffle
Let us introduce croffles, a great recommendation for students planning a café or coffee shop for their school festival! Croffles originated in Korea and combine a croissant with a waffle—the outside is crispy while the inside is delightfully chewy, making them irresistibly tasty.
They’re the perfect treat for trend-savvy high schoolers.
If you use frozen croissants, they’re easy to prepare! Add toppings like ice cream, maple syrup, or whipped cream to elevate them into a more luxurious café menu item.
Give them a try!
baby castella (mini Japanese sponge cakes)
Baby castella have a gentle sweetness that many people love, don’t they? They’re bite-sized and easy to eat, making them perfect for snacking on the go, and I think they’d be a hit at a school festival too! If you’re selling baby castella at a food stall, you could easily make them with a takoyaki pan.
Of course, you can also rent a specialized griddle from a professional vendor, so decide based on your budget.
For the batter, you can use pancake mix as a base, and it might be nice to offer a variety of flavors like plain, chocolate, honey, and more.
Pork-Wrapped Rice Ball
How about meat-wrapped rice balls made with a takoyaki maker—fun to make and perfect for a school festival menu? Using a takoyaki maker, which is trending on TikTok, makes cooking easy and gives it a festive vibe! First, roll the rice into balls small enough to fit in the takoyaki molds; using plastic wrap lets you shape them without getting your hands messy.
Wrap thinly sliced pork (shabu-shabu style) around the rice balls and place them into the takoyaki maker.
Once one side is browned, flip them with a bamboo skewer, then finish with sesame seeds and chopped green onions, and drizzle with yakiniku sauce—that’s it! When serving at the festival, remind people to be careful because they’re hot.
Frozen fruit bar
Many schools hold cultural festivals or school festivals in the summer.
Here’s a frozen fruit bar that will cool you down.
A fruit bar is a treat made by topping an ice bar with fruit.
You can make them from scratch, simply add fruit to a store-bought ice bar, or source them from specialty shops.
They look gorgeous, so snapping a commemorative photo before eating will be a hit.
As another twist, we also recommend topping “non-melting” ice cream with fruit.
Takoyaki
Among the classic options for festival food stalls, takoyaki is a perennial favorite that you’ll likely find at school festivals every year.
Recently, some schools have prohibited cooking with open flames due to hygiene and safety concerns, but if cooking is allowed at your school, definitely try making authentic takoyaki.
Precisely because it’s a staple menu item, focusing on flavor can set your class apart from the others! In addition to the standard sauce flavor, it might be a good idea to offer a variety of seasonings too.
cheese hot dog
Why not try making Korean cheesy hot dogs (cheese hotteok/hotteok-dogs) easily using pancake mix? They’re also a great idea for anyone planning food for a school festival! Cheese hot dogs, with stretchy cheese inside, are a popular treat in Japan too.
Skewer a stick of string cheese with a disposable chopstick, place it on a slice of cheese laid out on plastic wrap, roll it up, and freeze for about an hour.
The batter is simple—just mix silken tofu, egg, pancake mix, and potato starch in that order.
Pour the batter into a cup and coat the cheese thoroughly so it’s completely covered.
Finally, roll it in breadcrumbs, deep-fry, and you’re done! Since you’ll be using hot oil, you’ll want to be careful, but it’s a fun recipe to make together with friends, so it’s highly recommended.
Recommended foods for a high school culture festival: from Instagrammable items to easy snacks (21–30)
Korean tiramisu
Tiramisu, a dessert that was hugely popular a while back, is making a comeback in a new form.
Let’s aim to create the most popular booth at the school festival by making Korean tiramisu, the star of Korean sweets that shows no signs of fading along with the K-wave! Korean tiramisu refers to cup tiramisu that you can eat on the go.
Flashy toppings like cream and fruit are likely to draw attention, too.
Just thinking about that distinctive tang of mascarpone, the fluffy texture of whipped cream, and the pleasantly bitter espresso makes you crave it.
Hosting an Instagram-worthy photo contest featuring Korean tiramisu at the same time would probably boost the excitement even more!