As a student, when was the last time you enjoyed a home-cooked meal? Or rather, when was the last time you even cooked a meal? No, Kraft Dinner or anything “instant” does not count. For students like me who are constantly busy and sometimes find cooking to be a chore, it’s probably been a while.
And so, to compensate for our lack of home-cooked meals, we do one of the following: we live on Kraft Dinner and Mr. Noodles, we live on free food provided at various campus events or we fork out money to purchase overpriced food wherever we go. It’s definitely not the ideal lifestyle we’d like to have, but alas, we do it anyway.
Food Services hopes to help in this situation. On March 26, they hosted the UWaterloo Cooking Show at Fed Hall. The free event consisted of a cooking show and time to sample dishes made by on-campus chefs.
Eleanor Doe, co-ordinator of the event, spoke about what she hoped the event would achieve for UW students.
“Students are so busy, so it’s nice to be able to find something that’s nutritious, healthy and different,” said Doe. “We’re hoping that [the event] will be educational and [teach] some healthy meal options.”
During the show, chefs Gord Cooledge and Roland Lynn taught students how to make bulgogi udon and ramen noodles in a timely manner. Like what you would see on TV, it was both entertaining to watch and very informative. For instance, did you know that sesame oil should only be used as a seasoning? Or that the best way to peel ginger is by using a spoon? It’s the little tidbits of information like this that go a long way.
Second-year English student and attendee Liza Tuwel agreed. “I’ve never been a fan of cooking so I liked how [the event] made it look so easy,” said Tuwel. “I found that to be quite encouraging.”
But what good is a food event if you can’t even taste any food? Luckily, there was a wide variety of samples for all attendees to try. For appetizers, there were Vietnamese wraps and mussels. For the main course, beef pasta, the bulgogi udon and ramen noodles that were created during the cooking show were available. And to finish off, for dessert, a godsent crème brûlée.
Each station of food samples proved to be quite delicious. Phrases like “Oh my gosh, this is so good!” or “Let’s go get seconds!” were constantly heard. And while the students were devouring their plates of food items, the chefs took the opportunity to teach them how to cook these delicious meals. The chefs even provided recipe cards, knowing that there was a chance that students were probably going to be too distracted to listen because of their tasty creations.
Food Services hopes to organize and host more events like these in the future. Expect to see them occurring each fall and winter term.
