 Sophomores Scott Wilson and Laura Langitt toss a Thai salad covered in a Miso dressing at the Multicultural Cooking Club meeting Monday night. Meetings are held every other week in the Learning Living Center. Photo by Casey Gahagan |
by DEEANNA HANEY
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
The Multicultural Culinary Club, a new club that seeks to gain greater appreciation for different cultures by cooking various cuisines, meets every other Monday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Living Learning Center.
Each meeting focuses on a different culture’s cooking.
Roommates Sally G. Coleman, sophomore marketing major, and Megan L. Shanholtzer, sophomore global studies major, are co-presidents and founders of the club.
“We all want to learn and we try to teach each other and teach other people and learn from that,” Shanholtzer said.
Coleman describes the cooking as one big experiment.
At the
first meeting, with Middle Eastern music playing in the background,
members experimented with Middle Eastern food, including hummus and
eggplant appetizers and chicken with mushrooms as the main dish.
 Sophomore Ian M. Lawrence and freshman Justin W. Thornton make a butternut squash dish for an appetizer. Photo by Casey Gahagan |
The club
served up a night of Thai food Monday, with coconut chicken soup, salad
with miso dressing, chicken skewers and Pud Fug Tong, similar to stir
fried pumpkin or butternut squash over rice.
The club has various committees, one of which is dedicated to the research of different cultures and how they eat.
After a
light-hearted debate over whether butternut squash is a fruit or
vegetable, head of the Research Committee and sophomore history major
C. Eric Sumners revealed “fruit” as the correct answer.
Sumners also relays information about each country’s eating traditions when everyone is finished cooking.
In Thai
tradition, for instance, the fork is held in the left hand and is used
only to scoop the food into the spoon in the right hand, he said.
The culture is also known for eating small portions, always leaving food on the plate to signify completion.
“…It’s good to know if you go to Thailand you’ll know what to do when you eat,” Sumners said.
Students do not have to have experience with multicultural foods to join.
In fact, Coleman initially wanted to start the club to learn how to cook.
“I enjoy
cooking and wanted to expand what I ate because I have a limited amount
of recipes,” Mandy C. Sheahen, freshman secondary education major said.
The club will focus on Russian, Ethiopian, and at next week’s meeting, Hispanic foods.
Students
may bring $5 to cook one meal or can join the club for $25 per
semester. Those who want to learn how to cook and do not plan to eat
can participate for free.
Photos by Casey Gahagan | The Appalachian
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