Looking Back, Looking Forward at Food, Cooking and College

In September 2010, I wrote my first post on Dorm Room Dinner. At that time, I really had no idea where this blog would go. I was curious about the way college students cook. I had always found food - and home cooking in particular - to be a central part of my life. It had found its way into my life by way of cooking with family and friends since I was little, by way of a catering business I started in middle school, and by way of summer jobs in high school. I had found a way to bring that same enthusiasm for cooking to college. I had made friends by cooking with them in my incredibly small and poorly lit freshman dorm, I had lived in a cooking-themed house as a sophomore and founded a different food blog studying abroad in Italy, and I started a sandwich business with a friend at the Wesleyan farmers market. 

Cooking was once again a central part of my life in college, and I wanted to share my experiences cooking at college with others, find out what other college students were cooking in their kitchens (or dorm rooms), and provide a resource for those who wanted to start.

In my first post, I asked:

How do college students (or anyone, for that matter) cook with what they've got and still eat well? How can we improve the quality of food both for ourselves and those around us?

I’ve learned a lot in response to those questions. I’ve learned that college students from all over are interested more than ever in good food and cooking. I’ve learned that college students are wonderfully inventive and creative in their approach to food. Some have the culinary skill of a veteran chef, manage farms, edit food publications, blog about it, start food businesses, run farmers markets, collect vintage recipes and know more about the history of fair-trade coffee than you will ever hope to know. Others are still learning how to chop an onion (tip: don’t do it with a butter knife). This blog is for both sets of people, and I’m equally thrilled that both are finding a way to cook and be happy with it.

But what became quickly apparent when I started this blog is that college students aren’t that different from the rest of the world when it comes to food and cooking. And that’s a good thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re 14, 20, or 75, anyone can understand the significance of good food who invests some time in it.  I wouldn’t be the first person to say that food is about more than what ends up on your dinner plate.

So what is good food about?

Well, this blog has taught me a few things about that. Let’s start with some fundamentals:

1. Good food is about good food. That is to say, good tasting, healthy, fresh, home cooked food is important. Spending time in the kitchen preparing food that you want to eat is important. Be it from a recipe or the depths of your crazy imagination, good food should be from real ingredients, made in a kitchen, and taste simply delicious!

2. Good food is about community. This may sound abstract, but this is the most concrete and fundamental component of food and home cooking I can think of. Good food and cooking brings people together. It's about connecting with the people in your life. Preparing a meal together, sitting down to meal together - that's the power of good food.

I knew those well before Dorm Room Dinner came into being, and I’m sure you know those too. But this blog has taught me that good food is about even more:

3. Good food should be fun. Even ridiculous. If I've learned anything from this blog, it's that to maintain a lasting relationship with good food, you have to have fun with it. Maybe that's be preparing steak and donuts for dinner one night. Maybe it's by creating a slightly absurd series of videos which include everything from cupcake smashing to bow tie sandwich making. Have fun with your food.

4. Good food is about good people. Lots of them. It's about community, but about finding new, good people in your community who also like good food. If you make good food an important part of your life, you'll come across other wonderful people doing the same thing. Good food and this blog have connected me with countless amazing people, from fellow college students who want to prepare dinner together one night, to other food bloggers, cooks, eaters, and new friends, some of whom I was lucky enough to interview in the Table Talk interview series. So talk to guy at the butcher counter, invite a neighbor to dinner, start a conversation with a food writer, cook with a colleague. Good food always leads to good people.

Since starting Dorm Room Dinner almost two years ago, food and cooking have maintained an very important place in my life. I've had wonderful opportunities with food. I got to write my thesis about food, organize a food writing conference, and work with some other amazing people in the food world. But most importantly, I got to sit down to wonderful homemade dinners with friends at my home at college almost every night of the week. For that last item in particular, I feel very lucky. 

This past Sunday I graduated college. Which begs the question: will a blog entitled "Dorm Room Dinner" which is about cooking and college continue after I've left college? I've thought long and hard about it, considered changing the name, starting a new blog, or just taking a break from blogging all together.

But honestly, all those alternatives sounded ridiculous to me after some thought. I love it here at Dorm Room Dinner, and though dorm rooms may be well in my past at this point, I don't want to let it go. Dorm Room Dinner isn't leaving, and I hope you'll all continue to keep me company around here. Keep leaving your comments, telling me what your cooking, emailing me photos of your dinners, expressing your concerns about Paula Deen, expressing your admiration for Paula Deen and her love of butter in particular. You know what I mean. 

I believe GOOD FOOD DOES GREAT THINGS. 

Let's keep cooking. 

xo

Will

Photo Credits: Willis Kliefoth 

If Tangy Is the Same as Sassy, Then This Eggplant Sandwich Has a Whole Lot of Attitude

Right now in the baseball field across from my house, some seniors - we've now all finished classes and are celebrating "senior week" - are play a game of slosh ball. Slosh ball is kickball with a keg. Some of my friends are at the nearby Miller's Pond, no doubt basking in the sun, perhaps dipping into the cool (and always unusually colored) water. There is a continual group of seniors sitting on the lovely Foss Hill at the center of Wesleyan's campus, surely enjoying each other's company and as they gaze at the flowering trees which line the campus.

I've been in the kitchen, tackling a number of cooking tasks I've been meaning to get around to. That includes remaking this one of a kind eggplant sandwich.

Originally, Damiano and I made this as our inaugural sandwich in Spring 2011 for the Wesleyan Farmers Market Sandwiches. It then turned up as a post I contributed on Small Kitchen College. Finally, I'm bringing it to you all.

You're welcome.

I think I should pause. I don't want you thinking I've been holed up on the kitchen all week not enjoying the beginning of my last and final week at college. I've been to Miller's Pond. I even went swimming. And while I have not played any slosh ball yet, that has more to do with my limited sporting skills and less-than-perfect hand-eye coordination than it does with my enthusiasm for spending time with friends outdoors. I love my friends and the outdoors. A lot.

I just really love the kitchen. And if you were as fortunate as me you'd be spending at least a few hours of your senior week hunkering down with a baguette, an eggplant and a whole lot of culinary ingenuity. In fact, you'd probably be sautéing your eggplant in plenty of olive oil, softly laying it atop a warm baguette, and topping it with fresh baby spinach, pickled red onions and a tangy yogurt sauce with so much zing it would make a senior sloshed from a good ol' game of slosh ball yell:

Damn girl, that sandwich got some serious attitude.

Like I said, you're welcome.

FOODSTOCK!

Ruth Reichl and Faith Middleton at FOODSTOCK

Over the weekend, I got the pleasure of meeting Dorie Greenspan, the renown baker and cookbook author, at FOODSTOCK, Wesleyan's first food and writing conference dedicated to "cooks and books" held on Saturday, May 5. As we were chatting about the conference, she recounted a story which really stuck with me.

"One night I was having dinner with Julia Child at a restaurant," she began. 

I stopped her right there. "Few people can say that sentence," I interrupted. 

"That's so true," she responded, smiling. "Anyways, after dinner we went back into the kitchen to meet the cooks - Julia was commenting on this and that. Suddenly, Julia went up to one of the cooks and started intensely questioning if they had finished school. I realized she wanted to make sure that people in the food world were well educated and were thinking about what they were doing. Julia really studied food and valued smart people in the food world - she found it very important." 

Which is to say, thinking about food is important. And I believe that's what FOODSTOCK was really about.

Dorie Greenspan with FOODSTOCK Volunteer Su Park

The one day event, free and open to the public, brought together 400 attendees, 60 volunteers, 35 speakers, 12 food trucks, 6 local vendors and a farmers market. It was one of the most eye-opening and exciting experiences I have ever had. 

I will gladly say, without any reservations, that it was a huge success. The speakers - who ranged from food-world luminaries like Ruth Reichl, Eric Asimov, Dorie Greenspan, Jane Stern and Molly O'Neill to Wesleyan students, local food bloggers and chefs - brought with them an enthusiasm for food and food writing which I will not soon forget. The attendees, who came from all over and were of every imaginable background, came hungry for a new perspective on the food world -- and for some good food. We had food trucks and local food vendors serving everything from wood-fired pizza and grilled cheese to cupcakes and specialty nuts and granola. It was probably the best food Wesleyan has ever seen. 

A wood-fired pizza oven on wheels. Now that's food moving forward. 

Throughout the day I got exposed to ideas that I will not soon forget. The topics of the talks and panels were wide-ranging, from From Lokshen to Lo Mein: The Jewish Love Affair with Chinese Food to Food as a Topic of Academic Pursuit, The Business of Food, Sustainable Cuisine, Cooking with Kids with Chef Bobo, and The Future of Kimchi.

Just a few of the highlights include: 

• Ruth Reichl telling us about the one dish her mother did in fact make well: corn. And her belief  that eating a good egg on toast is more satisfying than any four-star NYC restaurant. Also, Reichl commenting that the next big thing in the food world would be food politics and food justice. Sounds good to me. 
• John Finn, Wesleyan professor of constitutional law who also teaches on and writes about food, discussing the ways in which certain recipes are fascist! 
• Jane Stern, author behind the Roadfood guides, commenting on how to find (or avoid) local restaurants: "If it smells bad, leave. It's a pretty reliable marker." 
• Hearing Cara Eisenpress, Pippa Lord and Tressa Eaton talk on blogging about food for a young audience - and telling people who want to start a blog: just do it! I couldn't agree more.
• Sampling some of Miya's Sushi, generously provided by Bun Lai and his team in New Haven. 
• Getting to meet the very enthusiastic and well-informed attendees at FOODSTOCK!

Molly O'Neill at her talk "Writing So They Can Taste It" 

FOODSTOCK 2012 (yes, we're hoping to have it in future years!) really brought together some of the food world's most informed and creative minds, and I'm thrilled to have been a part of it. Many thanks to the team I worked with - Jennifer, Barbara, Khanh-Anh and Amy - as well as our fantastic volunteers! I will certainly miss working with everyone. 

Team FOODSTOCK (left to right): Barbara Fenig, me, Khanh-Ahn Le, Jennifer Ferri, Amy Bloom.

But if FOODSTOCK proved anything, it's that the work isn't over. It proved that we need lots of smart people thinking about, writing about and cooking good food. Apparently, Julia Child was thinking that same thing years ago. And luckily, many of us are still thinking that today. 

Video and audio podcasts of FOODSTOCK talks and panels will be available soon via their website. 

More photos from the day below!

Cinco de Mayonnaise: 5 Unexpected Recipes Using Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayonnaise everyone! Check out the video below for 5 quick and ... quirky ... recipes using one of my favorite ingredients. Quirky might be an understatement. Watch below to find out what happens!

Thesis-ing: Italian-American Cuisine in NYC

It's been a busy few weeks around here. I just finished my senior thesis and this Saturday is FOODSTOCK - Wesleyan's food writing conference - which I'm helping organize!

But many of you have asked about my food-themed senior thesis, and I want to share. I'm a major in The College of Letters at Wesleyan, it's an interdisciplinary humanities program. One of its great perks is that you can write your senior thesis on just about anything. Which is why I wrote mine about football! 

Kidding.

The Tale of Curly Parsley (A Children's Rhyme) and a Recipe for Italian Spring Minestrone with Parsley Pesto

Back when I was in high school, a certain cookbook wandered into my life and never left. A review on the cover of this book calls it "the most useful cookbook of all time." It's really not an overstatement. 

Roast Chicken and Other Stories, the endlessly useful cookbook by British cookbook writer Simon Hopkinson, is filled with some of the most simple, useful, and satisfying recipes I have ever come across. If I ever started one of those blogs where I cooked my way through every recipe in a cookbook, this would be the one. He fills the pages with his personal favorite recipes, like Onion Tart, Baked Rice Pudding, Scallops Bercy, and Omelette Arnold Bennett (complete with smoked haddock, bechamel sauce, hollandaise sauce and heavy cream). 

He divides the cookbook by ingredient (anchovies, chicken, chocolate, custard, kidneys, onions, scallops, tomatoes, etc.) and introduces each ingredient with a little story or anecdote. His introduction to the parsley section, a story from his childhood, stuck with me in particular. It's the tale of how parsley came to be curly.

For whatever reason, while I was in high school, I decided to make this story into a children's rhyme. I've never done anything with it until now, but decided this was the time to debut it. So here it is. 

And below is a recipe for an Italian minestrone soup with spring vegetables, topped with fresh and fragrant parsley pesto. It's from the talented and adventurous Italian nonna and chef Benedetta Vitali who has a restaurant in Florence. It's a terrific soup - my go-to soup recipe. I think you'll enjoy it.

xo

Will 

~~~

The Tale of Curly Parsley

Miss Tolly-Tappernill was her name,

She lived in a cottage on Leafy Lane,

Daily to her garden she did tend,

To her it was a cherished friend. 

For here the fairies did reside,

Each in a flower, side by side,

And pixies would often visit too,

They played in shrubs, which also grew.

She loved her garden very dear,

So yearly flowers did appear,

Lavender, daisies and hollyhocks,

Marigolds, lupins and forget-me-nots. 

Interfaith Matzo-Bread Houses for East-over

Dazed and confused about how to reconcile your wish to recognize both Passover and Easter this weekend? I was too. It's hard enough when Easter and Passover are in the same month, mind the same weekend! (Then again, JC's last supper was a Passover seder #ThankYouReligion391*).

That is until I became an "edible architect" and designed, along with my housemate Meggie, one of these "Interfaith Matzo-Bread Houses for East-over." They take all the best aspects of both Passover and Easter* - matzo and candy - and combine them into one colorful, cozy bungalow. I think they'd make a perfect center piece for a Passover seder or an Easter dinner. And they'll work great as dessert for either one: Kosher for Passover and pastel-colored enough for any Easter celebration!

Build up, eat up, and happy holidays everyone!

*First time a #hashtag was used on Dorm Room Dinner. Very exciting. 
**I come from a Jewish family that ate bagels for breakfast on Passover because "at least they're Jewish," and I've never celebrated Easter beyond hunting for eggs. Needless to say, I'm hardly an expert on either holiday.

Check out the rest of the photos below!