For the University’s food-centric clubs and RSOs, food is much more than sustenance, and its significance goes far beyond globs of matter on a plate that gives people life. It’s a professional pipeline, a form of cross-cultural expression and most importantly, a catalyst for community.

“When you think about humanity and what we are, lots of things bring us and unite us together, one of them being food,” said Adam Syed, junior in AHS and ACES and president of the Cheese Club at UIUC. “It’s such a big aspect of culture when you think about it.”

Syed’s club, which he founded during his freshman year following a seemingly spiritual episode with a slice of Havarti cheese on a Ritz cracker during winter break, had a simple mission: to use cheese as the impetus for bonding and community.

“Cheese, to me, is the conduit here at U of I to bring people together,” Syed said. “If you look around the world anywhere, in any countries — India, China, Europe, Africa — everywhere there’s cheese … And because of that, when you bring it here to such a diverse campus like the U of I where there’s everyone, all types of different cultures, it’s something that unifies us.”

Cheese Club’s universal appeal was apparent in its rapid and immediate growth, as the group gained traction at Quad Day and boasted roughly 500 new Instagram followers and 1,000 new contacts by the fall of 2023, less than a year after the club’s inception, per Syed. 

Now, the club has eclipsed the 1,000-follower plateau and puts on regular events planned by its seven-member executive board. Despite Cheese Club’s remarkable growth, its core mission hasn’t changed.

“It doesn’t matter what grade you are, anything about you as a person, what you look like, where you come from, what you were doing yesterday,” said Rachel Selvaraj, senior in LAS and Cheese Club social officer. “I love just seeing people who have never met each other, who have nothing to do with each other, just come and have this shared appreciation for cheese.”

While the Cheese Club continues to proliferate, it’s not the only campus group devoted to bonding across a table. Following a similar — if less formal — blueprint, UC Coffee Club has been brewing up a nourishing community since the fall of 2021.

“It’s a very natural way to get to know people and to form friendships,” said Andy Lee, graduate student studying computer science and brewer for the club.

According to Lee, Coffee Club has 174 Instagram followers and roughly 15-20 attendees who bring a mug and $4 to attend weekly meetings. Coffee Club isn’t quite as large as its cheesy counterpart, but the its intimacy and reliability make up for its lack of size.

“We want to establish sort of a third space, right?” Lee said. “A place that exists consistently, where people can come and see some of the same people and see some new people.”

To Lee, coffee and community go hand in hand, and friendships develop naturally amid the warm aroma of a cup of joe.

“People usually don’t just get some coffee and then leave,” Lee said. “The idea’s that they’ll sit here, get to try everything and also get to know each other.”

For many members, the bonds created in the club go far beyond the scope of the 10 a.m. Sunday meetups in the Illini Union basement.

“A lot of people took graduation photos together,” said Hayley Woodrich, graduate student studying geophysics and brewer at the club. “It seems to be a significant part of a lot of the consistent attendees’ lives.”

While Coffee Club is many things to many people, the organization has never become registered as an official RSO. Proudly brandishing the motto “unfiltered, underground,” Coffee Club has no intent to put its signature blend of welcome and relaxation in jeopardy to be recognized, especially considering some of the club’s attendees are members of the local community but not University students.

“At the end of the day, we’re open to anyone in the area who wants to come and appreciate this,” Woodrich said. “I think there is a concern that too broad of community involvement would jeopardize a position as an RSO for funding, but also turn people off to coming.”

While people across the globe love cheese and coffee, and they double as wonderful centerpieces for bonding, there’s no cheese without milk and no coffee without cream (mostly, at least — the Coffee Club typically drinks theirs black). 

In short, these things can’t exist without the vast and perpetually churning dairy industry. The Illini Dairy Club is committed to ensuring everyone understands and appreciates the irreplaceable influence of dairy.

“(Dairy is) something that can be very social,” said Jack Tolentino, sophomore in AHS and Dairy Club public relations chair. “Just teaching people how it’s made, how it’s processed and just appreciating that is really important.”

For Tolentino, a significant cause for his appreciation for dairy is his sister, Emma Tolentino, senior in ACES and the club’s president. While the Tolentinos didn’t grow up in an agricultural region, that didn’t stop them from finding a passion for dairy. 

For Emma Tolentino, a Dairy Club-organized encounter with a dairy calf as a freshman helped solidify her decision to foray into the field. Since then, she’s remained focused on sharing the zeal she discovered with everyone, regardless of their educational sector.

“I really fell in love with dairy cattle,” Emma Tolentino said. “It’s been really rewarding to help educate people that had a similar background (growing up away from agriculture) and letting them into the dairy world.”

For Emma Tolentino, educating people on dairy isn’t just helpful; it’s critical, as misinformation abounds about the roughly $900 billion industry. While people often emphasize the alleged mistreatment of animals, Emma Tolentino encourages those questioning the ethics of dairy production to see for themselves.

“There’s a lot of controversy and misconceptions, so I think (the club is) a great way to actually step into the dairy world and see how that works … And see all the inner workings and behind-the-scenes and how milk gets from farm to table,” Emma Tolentino said.

While the efforts of the Tolentinos and the Dairy Club are bringing attention to the vital functions of the dairy industry, others prefer to go straight to the source concerning the foods that fuel Earth’s most intelligent species — humans. The Student Dietetics Association has its gaze fixed on preparing its members for the full gamut of careers and experiences focused on health and nutrition.

“So the biggest (goal), first and foremost, for this organization is (to) have a more firm foundation on the different careers that are available,” said Roberto Macher, senior in ACES and president of the club. “Be more knowledgeable in the different career paths that they have available to them, that it’s not just one designated area.”

The association, which brings in monthly speakers and touts itself as a pre-professional organization, seeks to illuminate possibilities in an often convoluted field.

“There are several opportunities that aren’t obvious to the naked eye, and we’re just trying to expose our members to those opportunities,” Macher said.

For students like Macher, an aspiring sports nutritionist, fostering skills and forging connections is the top priority, but like the other food-based clubs on campus, the community is just as important. While Macher said the association wasn’t always attentive to community-building in the past, he is now seeking to galvanize SDA’s talented and ambitious conglomerate.

“What I thought was missing in the organization was more community involvement,” Macher said. “So one thing that we’re prioritizing this spring is a group volunteering event to get the members involved in the community and get a sense of what the different volunteer opportunities here on campus are.”

Whether it’s a gathering of close friends or a full-blown career path, food and community will always remain inextricably linked, especially in the vibrant and thriving community of the University. Amid challenges and hardships, the University’s food clubs remain, not just providing sustenance, good times and professional experience but also feeding the soul.

For Woodrich, who leaned on Coffee Club during a difficult transition when coming to the University to pursue a second bachelor’s degree, her reason for savoring Sunday morning brews wasn’t about coffee — or cheese or dairy, for that matter.

“Really, it was the community that kept me coming here,” Woodrich said.

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