The smells of spices, herbs and meat mingled with the sound of 250 people enjoying Thai cuisine and culture Sunday night in the Memorial Union.

The third-annual Thai Night was a sold-out event arranged by the Thai Student Association, offering student-made Thai food, cultural displays and performances.

“We prepare everything ourselves, from cooking to displays and performances,” said Monchai Wongkarnka, graduate student in civil, construction and environmental engineering. “This is our opportunity to display our culture to foreigners,” he said.

Participants spent all day Sunday preparing for Thai Night. Most of the students were at the Union at 9 a.m. to set up the tables and displays and to cook the food, said Manop Kaewmoracharoen, president of the Thai Student Association and graduate student in civil, construction and environmental engineering.

“To put this all together [the Thai students] work very hard. It’s a dedicated contribution,” said David Topel, retired dean of the College of Agriculture. He attended the event to enjoy the Thai food.

The Great Hall was filled with 26 tables, each bearing Thai names instead of numbers. The Oak Room displayed stations on the Thai alphabet, instruments and flower wreaths. There was even a station informing visitors on how to cook som tum Thai, a Thai dish containing papaya, sting beans and fish sauce, among other ingredients. The South Ballroom was divided into two buffet tables — one with spicy food and the other with milder food.

“The typical Thai food is very spicy,” said Topel, who said he has been to Thailand many times. “You have to be bold in your taste.”

Many people came for just that reason, as the line for the spicy table was twice as long as the line for the milder table.

“Most of them want to try spicy food,” Wongkarnka said. However, the spicy food prepared for Thai Night was nowhere near as spicy as the food that can be found in Thailand, he said.

Dinner entrees included such dishes as son-in-law eggs, green curry with chicken, spicy pork salad and tofu mushroom stir-fry. There was also a choice of dessert: either a dish of sweet tapioca rice with coconut milk or a selection of fruits.

“This year, we invited the TSA from the University of Iowa to come and join us,” said Sutee Eamkajornsiri, graduate student in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering.