DELAND — Carla Quann thinks of food as a universal language.

"If you think about it, people go to every restaurant. Whether it's Indian food, Japanese food, Chinese food, we eat everything," the Daytona Beach resident said.

Quann was one of roughly 300 people to dine Sunday afternoon on dishes ranging from camel-duck kebab, inspired by the cuisine of Libya, to split pea and cici hummus, a Syrian dish. The guests, sitting at tables on Indiana Avenue, passed plates of food prepared by Cress Restaurant that were inspired by the seven countries in President Donald Trump's recent immigration order: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Citizens of those countries were temporarily banned from traveling to the United States.

"Anybody who says that we're in trouble as a country needs to just look at this little gathering of 300-plus people and say 'maybe we're not in trouble,'" said chef Hari Pulapaka, who owns Cress with his wife Jenneffer. "We just need to find our common ground, however we do so, whether it be over food, like we did, or over something else."

Orlando resident Rajashree Patel, a United States citizen who migrated from India, also pointed out the themes of tolerance and bringing people together after a man walked by the diners and chanted "Trump!"

"In a time like this, we really need someone to bring everyone from different cultures, different backgrounds, different religions, different genders, whatever it is, together and just kind of get to know each other," she said.

A permanent resident with a green card who migrated from India, Pulapaka pointed to the selfless spirit he saw from volunteers who came and helped serve the meal. Earlier this week, he addressed Trump's order — which has been blocked in court.

"I just felt like that kind of insensitivity spoke to me personally as an immigrant and tomorrow it could be India," he said. "The day after it could be Canada. Where does that end?"

Pulapaka is also an associate professor of mathematics at Stetson University, and the school's president, Wendy Libby, attended the meal.

"Hari believes in integrating his view of the world, and how open we should be to other people, with his food and it's part of who he and Jenneffer are and so I'm just glad my husband and I could be here to support it," Libby said.

Rose Eberle, of DeLand, also dined at the event.

"When Hari decided to not only combine his wonderful food with a political statement about how we feel about America and how we feel about everyone's effort toward understanding one another as people, you have to stand up," she said.