Bazaar extends community through food, education to local visitors
photo by Uzma Mirza
The Oshkosh Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque hosted its annual Meena Bazaar on May 2. Open to all women and children in the community, the bazaar featured an array of decadent entrees and desserts, cultural board games, henna artwork, and information regarding Islam and the mosque’s parishioners. The bazaar was advertised through social media and on the City of Oshkosh Events webpage, as well as by word of mouth. Junior Alayna Peterson, who has attended the Meena Bazaar for the past two years, was welcomed by friends at West.
“I went to the bazaar last year and I learned about it from Mrs. (Melissa) Troedel because she knows the girls that go to that mosque,” she said. “I’m also friends with Hiba (Malik), Faateha (Ahmad), and Dania (Mian).”
Ahmad, a senior, one of many West students involved in running and planning the event, described how the organization process rolls out each year.
“The Meena Bazaar is annual and happens usually in the warmer months, around springtime,” she said. “Each person had something they wanted to do or make, so we divided them up in stalls. We met a few times over the weeks before the bazaar to set up tables and use the kitchen at the mosque to make food items.”
The bazaar featured a wide range of Southeast Asian cuisine for the public to try, varying between all levels of spicy, savory, and sweet.
“My mother had made Pakistani ice cream, or Kulfi, before and it had been a success, so she made it again for this year,” said Ahmad. “A unique food featured was pani puri, in which a person had to pour a spicy liquid into a shell and eat it in one bite.
Junior Basma Rafiq appreciated the delectable options offered for visitors to try, especially as advertised with colorful signs adding flavor to the mosque parking lot.
“There are masala fries, samosa, sweet treats like ice cream, there’s soup, as well as paratha, which is basically a burrito that you could customize with a different type of meat or potato,” she said.
Not only is this cultural experience beneficial for the community, but also enjoyable for those behind the scenes. Sophomore Malik understands the hard work put into creating the experience.
“Everyone puts a lot of effort into everything they do and it really shows in the quality of the food,” Malik said. “I love the paratha rolls!”
Ahmad also enjoyed the paratha rolls, and the reactions served up along with it.
“People had a lot of fun trying out the food, and I enjoyed seeing their reactions,” she said. “My personal favorite food was the chicken paratha roll, which was filled with chicken, lettuce, and sauces. I would also say it was the most popular as we sold a lot.”
Ahmad contributed by making a classic, tried-and-true baked good: brownies.
“I made Nutella brownies for the bake sale stall, something which I was popular for in my family,” she said.
Games and immersive experiences included a board game called Ludo that was strikingly familiar to many visitors.
“There were a lot of games, like Ludo, a four player game that’s super fun and a lot like the game Sorry! even though it came hundreds of years before,” Rafiq said. “And I worked at the henna stall.”
The henna stall, another of the bazaar’s various stalls, attracted many visitors.
“The henna stall is run by Biky Ahmad,” Malik said. “There are a few talented henna artists, such as the team lead herself, that apply henna tattoos on people.”
However, the goal of the event runs beyond delicious eats and cultural enrichment. Ahmad said that the women’s chapter at Oshkosh Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque is also supported through
“The goal of the bazaar was to raise money for the Lajna (the women's chapter) in the Jamaat (community) so we could put the money toward future events and such,” she said.
Though the bazaar is put on with a female-focused lens, the profits are also used for general humanitarian causes.
“It’s mostly for women and children but sometimes men walk in. That’s fine, we just prefer it to be women-centered,” Rafiq said. “But another goal of the bazaar is always to donate the money, as well as use it for our budget like the food we have at events.”
The event also featured a stand filled with Qurans and related reading to further acquaint attendees with Islamic values and beliefs. Rafiq said that the Meena Bazaar itself represents much of what the Ahmadiyya Muslim community stands for.
“The bazaar shows how we value peace and understanding as well as having fun and creating community,” she said. “There was a stall where we were selling Qurans. We love to teach people about our religion.”
Peterson herself took the opportunity to learn more about women in Islam and broaden her perspective on religion.
“I have been to a lot of different events and learned so much about the hijab and the background of their religion and I find it super interesting,” she said, “It’s super cool to learn about different religions and hearing the different stories the women told.”
Overall, Malik believes that the Meena bazaar serves as the perfect place to share culture and build community bonds.
“We believe in getting to know your community and spreading love, and the ethnic bazaar has always been a warm event with all different walks of life coming together,” she said.
by Phoebe Fletcher
Published May 26, 2026
Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue VIII