This past week, Campus Kitchens hosted their first ever cooking class in the basement of Founders. For this first cooking class, they made a black bean tuna salad —a recipe that is relatively cheap and many of the ingredients can be found at either Campus Cupboard or Aldi. The cooking class had two functions: making time to socialize and slowdown from the fast pace of school, and to make people more comfortable cooking foods they may be unfamiliar with.
Mikaylo Kelly, a junior at Augustana, is currently one of two outreach coordinators on the Campus Kitchens executive board. Kelly became interested in Campus Kitchens their freshman year when they helped with a cooking shift.
“[Campus Kitchens] is important
Mikaylo Kelly, a junior at Augustana, is currently one of two outreach coordinators on the Campus Kitchens executive board. Kelly became interested in Campus Kitchens their freshman year when they helped with a cooking shift.
“[Campus Kitchens] is important because it is turning a lens towards this topic that has yet to be addressed in any extensive way—which is food insecurity on campus. It’s a really important, messy issue, with a lot of components going into it so I think it is a very noble thing that they are trying to address this problem,” Kelly said.
For the cooking class, Kelly shared that Campus Kitchens will be considering vegan options or recipes with more steps for their future cooking classes so students should keep an eye out for next year.
“When you cook for yourself, you save a lot more money and you can get a more nutritious diet as opposed to ready-made foods or going out to eat,” Kelly said.
Kegan North, a junior, got involved with Campus Kitchens after considering how he could get more involved on campus and support an issue that can make a big difference.
“The core concept of the cooking class is ‘make and take meals,’ so the original idea branched off of being able to provide food for those who are food insecure. Because those are meals that we can only periodically provide, the cooking class is a creative way to give individuals food and also teach them skills,” North said.
Emmy Sharaan, a first-year, was a participant in the cooking class and would recommend others try attending.
“Cooking is one of those things that I always want to know more about, but I don’t really have someone to teach me at home and I am not really in the best environment in the dorms to teach myself. It was a good opportunity to get some practice,” Sharaan said.
Sharaan also thought that the class was interesting —they talked and hung out.
Rachel Hecke, a junior, also participated in the class.
“I get a lot of food from Campus Cupboard, and so when they asked in a survey about a potential cooking class using Campus Cupboard things, I thought that would be really helpful because I struggle with finding things to cook. Usually, I don’t know what to cook so it’s nice to go get other ideas,” Hecke said.
Hecke stated that she enjoyed the recipe; it was easy, fast and cheap, which she appreciated.
“I think that food insecurity is a big thing on campus and I personally know a lot of students – especially in their junior year- that try to save money by not getting a meal plan but then struggle to go buy groceries,” Hecke said.
North discussed the importance of having opportunities to teach people how to cook, as well as making meals affordable.
“People can come and learn a skill because as the old saying goes, ‘you can feed somebody and feed them for a day or you can teach them something and feed them for a lifetime’,” North said.
“We saw this as an opportunity to provide food in the same way as Campus Cupboard does, because we closely interact with them, but also to show people that there are cost-efficient ways that you can make really tasty meals and make those without a lot of resources”
Featured Image: Augustana Junior Rachel Hecke (left) and Freshman Emmy Sharaan (right) cut green onion stalks for the Campus Kitchens meal prep class’s black bean tuna salad. April 2, 2019. Photo by Ian Murrin.
