Over fall break, students and staff came together to create a unique Thanksgiving meal at the Illinois Street Dining Center. Staff hosted this event on Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Students and dining chefs taught each other how to cook a meal important to them and their culture. At the end of the event, the group presented each dish, and then they feasted.
This event offered an opportunity for the students staying at the University over break to connect with their peers and share a slice of their culture. Staff reported the participant demographic to be largely international students, and International Education is a collaborative partner for this event.
“It’s an opportunity for our students to connect with each other and meet students from different areas, from around the world, and just connect that way,” said Assistant Director for Culinary Services Crystol Smith. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Staff have observed the large international participation resulting in diverse dishes over the years, from French meringue to Pakistani curry.
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The meal also includes dishes such as mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and turkey. Many international students are interested in trying the traditional, midwestern-style Thanksgiving dishes.
“I am excited to try the real Thanksgiving dishes,” said Xinyi Yan, freshman in Information Sciences. “It will also be fun to cook with the chefs.”
For the chefs, this event is a creative break from cooking the dining hall’s set meal schedule. It allows them the chance to cook something personal to them that they are passionate about.
“It’s an opportunity for (the chefs) to really showcase their skills and share with students what they do and love,” Smith said. “Oftentimes, we don’t get that opportunity on a daily basis.”
Students are also given time to teach the chefs a dish personal to them and their heritage. As a result of regional differences, the same dish has the potential to taste wildly different from the year before.
Students often lean on the chefs’ culinary skills to help guide their cooking. This helps them correctly follow their recipes and replicate the dish.
“It’s more for (the students) to bring their recipes in, but they’re not chefs,” said Soohwa Yu, chef at the University. “We kind of learn (the recipe) together … (the students) say, ‘This is how my mom used to do it, but it doesn’t taste right.’ Then I look at their recipe and kind of coach them.”
The diversity of the participants works to expose even experienced chefs like Yu to new dishes and different techniques, highlighting the magnitude and various styles of cooking.
“There was one Chinese student coming in to do a stir fry … and she used dark vinegar,” Yu said. “I had never thought of using dark vinegar in food … and it actually makes sense, some of the dishes are oily, and the vinegar helps balance them out. There was something I never thought about, something I learned from that student.”
